


Foreplay

by AtLeastIWasThere



Series: The Archeon Chronicles [1]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 16:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 47,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7515625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtLeastIWasThere/pseuds/AtLeastIWasThere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He placed the pitcher in front of her and braced his hands on the side of the bar, "I'll let you in on a little secret," he said leaning forward, "Nice girls like you get eaten alive in places like this."</p><p>Elain cocked an eyebrow, "Maybe I'm not that nice."</p><p>He threw his head back and let out a bark rather than a laugh, "Love, you've got nice girl written all over you," ok so maybe she was wearing a pink sweater and maybe she was wearing blue jeans and had her hair slung back in a ponytail. But that didn't mean she was a lame 'nice' girl. She could be fun.</p><p>So she frowned at him, "You'd be surprised."</p><p>"Yeah," he nodded glancing up and down, " I would be," </p><p>College AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hey so I loved acomaf and I loved the ivy chronicles so I just thought I would kinda combine them. It’s basically a college AU for acomaf. Enjoy.

 

ACOMAF: Ivy Chronicles AU

 

Foreplay:

 

            “You’ve got to be kidding me,” The minivan was dying, again, except this time it was around midnight on the middle of the road. Leaving Elain completely hopeless. So she pulled over into the ditch, silently cursing herself, with the last bit of juice her old car had.

            Feyre, the name came to her mind instantly, Feyre would come get her. Or Nesta, Feyre had started dating some pretty boy from the south. But as she began to flip through her contacts her phone died. Elain groaned in frustration, maybe she could walk back to the O’Malley’s… Their house wasn’t too far away. Mr. O’Malley would probably take her home.

            Elain had taken herself away from her studies for one night so she could babysit the O’Malley’s twin girls. She thought that she could have used the money from the babysitting job to fix whatever was wrong with her car, but it seems as though her car was throwing a hissy fit. So she waited. Hoping to come up with a better solution than to just sit there until the morning came. Her eyes flashed to a pair of headlights that appeared behind her.

            The driver of the car pulled up beside her, Elain’s eyes grew at the figure of a man in the driver seat. _Oh my god._ She panicked; _I’m about to be the beginning of an SVU episode or the 11 o’clock news._ She swallowed hard as the man got out of his car and walked over to her window. Elain stared straight ahead as knuckle reached up to tap her window every so slightly.

            She pursed her lips as she rolled down her window, “Hey,” the deep voice rumbled, “Is everything ok?”

            It took Elain a moment to react to him, the pair of hazel eyes staring back at her. “I-I have someone on the way,” she lied, hoping and praying that he would believe the lie and move on.

            As he turned back to look at the highway the shadow adjusted, giving her a peak at freckles that danced on the edge of his cheek bones and the piercings on his right ear. He looked back at her after what? Assessing how alone they were? How easy it would be to kill her?? Maybe she could gouge his eyes out with her keys if he lurched toward her…

            “I could look under the hood if you want?” His shoulders shrugged as he moved deeper into the shadows.

            “No really…” Elain stuttered, “It’s ok,” The eyes that she had just contemplated stabbing came into the light. The russet colors that danced within his irises looked like freshly fallen autumn leaves. “I get it,” the stranger said, “You don’t know me, but I wouldn’t want my mother to be stranded on the freeway in the middle of the night,”

            Elain took a deep breathe, if he really wanted to hurt her he would do it whether she invited him to look at the hood of her car or not. “Thanks,” she said hoping she wouldn’t end up on the morning news or in a nearby stream.

            The stranger let out a soft chuckle, “I know I can look a little scary,” he gestured to his ponytail and the piercings along his eyebrow and ear. “I can look under your hood if you want?” Elain’s eyes flickered to the hood of her car and back to the stranger, “I won’t bite I promise,” he smirked as he held his hands up in defense.

            After a few moments of silence Elain slowly began to nod her head as he stepped out of his car. _What am I doing?_ She internally screamed, _Nesta would KILL me if she knew I let some scene kid check the hood of her car!_

            “Pop the hood?” he asked as her hand reached down to lift the lever, her eyes never leaving his.

            He strolled around to the front of the car, the light from her headlights showed his pale freckled skin and bright red hair. The collar of his shirt popped open to reveal a black tattoo etching down his chest. For some reason Elain got out of her car and walked over to where he was.

            Steam erupted from the hood as he lifted it up, his hands began touching different things. Elain’s knowledge of mechanics was just as much as her origami making skills. All of a sudden another pair of lights flashed began to pull up behind them, the stranger stepped forward, positioning himself between Elain and the other pair of headlights.

            For the first time since his initial approach, Elain got her first eye full of her would-be-mechanic. And he was hot. The cruel lighting burned into a scar that ran across his cheek and above his eye. Her blood boiled at the thought of who or what did that to him. His long red hair tied back into a low ponytail with parts of it falling in his face. Mor would call him ‘Delicious’; Elain might call him that too.

            The car pulled up next to Elain’s and her attention snapped from him to the new car. “Car trouble?” the man in the car said. A light illuminated the passenger side and Elain noticed a middle aged woman with an ipad in her lap.

            Delicious nodded towards Elain, “Just stopped to help out, I think I see the problem.”

            The woman looked up from her ipad, “Don’t worry honey you’re in good hands,” The corner of Delicious’s mouth turned up as he thanked the middle-aged couple in the car.

            “Neighbors,” he muttered as their car rolled away from them.

            “Oh,” Elain said, “Do you live around here?”

            Delicious’s hands paused on the rim of the car, “Sort of,” he said. Elain could tell that was a subject that he did not want to touch, “I was babysitting for the O’Malley’s maybe you know them?” she tried to drift away from the subject.

            He nodded, “Yeah they’re just down the street.”

            Once he stepped back from her car she bit her lip, “So can you fix it? I know she’s kind of a clunker but… If you can fix it I’d be the happiest girl in the universe.”

            The corner of his mouth turned again at her rambling before he moved back to his car. He returned with a bottle of water in his hand. He began pouring the water on the inside of her engine; “This should cool it down, help it run for about twenty minutes. Take it to a mechanic first thing tomorrow morning and have them replace the hose.”

            Elain released a relieved sigh, “That doesn’t sound too bad,”

            “Shouldn’t cost more than a couple hundred dollars,” At the sound of that Elain, thought she was going to be sick. That would pretty much wipe out her account and there was no way she was going to ask Nesta, Feyre or God forbid Mor for help. She winced at the sound of the hood slamming shut, “Thank you so much,” Elain said, “You really saved me from calling a tow truck.”

            Elain knew he was amused at the sight of a full sized shit-eating grin, “So no one’s coming?” he chuckled.

            “Yeah I may have made that up.” The sound of silence swept over them as her eyes darted at the clothes he was wearing. He was dressed just like every guy she saw on campus. He wore a tight fitted bar t-shirt and casual jeans, he looked like trouble, like the kind of guy every girl in school lose their minds over. All of a sudden her chest felt too tight and it was hard for her to breathe.

            “Well thanks again,” she said before returning to her car. He watched her turn the key and drive away. The entire ride home she refused to look in her rearview mirror, if Mor had been with her she wouldn’t have left that ditch without his phone number in her back pocket. The thought made her stomach roll.

[----]

            Just as she suspected, Mor was lazily sitting in their armchair bridal style when she got home the next day. Elain sank down beside her on the opposite couch dropping all of the bags that had been in her hand to her side. The sound of Arianna Grande came from Nesta’s room. When Arianna played Elain knew she was getting ready to go out.

            “Where are you guys going?” Elain sighed.

            “Illyria.” Mor said looking up from the fingernails she was just filing.

            “That bar on 5th?” That wasn’t Nesta and Mor’s usual scoping ground for hotties on campus.

            Mor shrugged, “My cousin owns it with a couple of his friends, Nesta wanted to check it out.” Just then the door to the third bedroom opened and Feyre walked out in a fluffy robe, her hair in light tasseled curls. Mor smiled up at her friend, “Lookin’ hot Archeon.” She chortled.

            Feyre rolled her eyes and turned to Elain, “Are you going to come out with us tonight?”

            “You’re going out too!” Elain exclaimed. Feyre hardly ever left the apartment since she started dating Tamlin.

            “Yeah, Tam’s got a huge presentation tomorrow so I figured… Why not? I heard this Illyria place is pretty cool, and Mor’s cousin owns the place so this should definitely be fun!”

            “Sure you don’t want to join us?” Mor cooed throwing a pink halter-top at Elain. It was a sweet top that would def show off all of her curves. Elain threw the top back at her, “I’ll leave the wild nights up to you three.”

            Mor shoved the top back onto Elain’s lap, “I’m not sure how wild we can get Miss Feyre over here. She’s practically a trapped old married lady,”

            “I am not!” Feyre exclaimed her mouth gaping open at the blonde.

            Elain smirked, “It’s ok I get enough thrills after watch you two,”

            “Ok be honest, is it because of Graysen?” The sound of his name almost caused for Elain’s heart to stop beating. Her friend and sisters weren’t fools; they knew she had been pining after Graysen since before they even started college. So she shrugged, it was no secret how she felt about this guy.

            The corner’s of Mor’s mouth quirked up, “Well now that you mention it, there is something that I heard through the grapevine this morning… About a certain breakup involving Graysen and that girl he’s been dating.” Elain’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, “Are you screwing with me right now?” She said as Mor shook her head. Paige and Graysen had been glued together since his sophomore year, so hearing that Graysen was back on the market… made Elain feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

            Mor shrugged, “Something about wanting to date other people, I heard it was pretty mutual.”

            “Well now’s your chance,” Feyre said sitting down next to her sister.

            “What’s her chance?” Nesta said from her door. She was wearing a pair of black stilettos and a curve hugging black dress.

            “Graysen is single again!” Elain said softly, a smile playing on the edge of her sweet mouth.

            Nesta glared at the three girls, no one was perfect enough for Elain. If any guy on campus so much as showed the slightest bit of interest for her, Nesta would chase them off with fire torches and pitchforks. “Never did like that kid,” she snarled.

            Elain ignored her sister and turned back to Mor and Feyre, “Well what do I do? Show up to his apartment and declare my love for him?”

            The look on Mor’s face answered Elain’s question, “I’m gonna go with ‘no’” Feyre said.

            “Too forward,” Mor said, “Men like a chase,”

            Elain snorted, “This is coming from you,”

            “Hey I know how to play the game,” Mor said in defense, “When I want them to chase me, they do. I still can’t get one of my cousin’s friends off of my tail.”

            “Sounds like an idiot,” Nesta chuckled sitting on the edge of the chair Mor was sitting on.

            Elain sat in her chair looking down at her hands, she didn’t even know where the start space was in ‘the game,’ or even if there was a start space. “How am I supposed to attract Graysen? I’ve never even kissed a guy before… let alone seduced one.”

            “Tragic,” Mor tsked, “Well we’re going to change that,” she smiled.

            “What do you mean?”

            “All you need is a little experience,” Nesta’s eyes widened at Mor’s statement.

            “Oh no you’re not about to whore my little sister out to your cousin’s bar wenches!”

            Mor chuckled, “Calm down, Elain’s not going to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

            “You’re going out with us tonight,” Feyre said putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder, “And you’re definitely going to get kissed.”

            “I-I don’t think kissing a random stranger is going to help me.”

            “Oh not random, you’ll need a pro,”

            Elain cringed at Mor, she had come up with some crazy ideas in the past, “A prostitute?”

            “Oh be serious Elain,” Mor shoved her shoulder, “You just need someone with a well earned rep, someone who can teach you the ropes. A good kisser, someone who can teach you… foreplay.”

            Elain eyes her mischievous friend warily, “Who,”

            “The bartender at Illyria.”

            “Oh stop, I can’t do that,”

            “Oh come on,” Feyre said, “Just come out with us, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

            Elain looked up at Nesta who still glared at her friends, “It’s your life Elain, I can’t be your keeper forever.”

            “Yeah,” Mor said, “Ill be right by your side the whole night.” Just as the words flew out of her mouth, Mor’s phone buzzed. A sweet smile tugged at the corner of Mor’s mouth, “Actually I won’t, something’s come up so I’ll see you guys later.” Just as she made it to the door she turned back to Elain, “Just look for the bartender, don’t have too much fun with him,” she winked and then she was gone.

            “She’s been doing that a lot lately,” Nesta complained, “I think she’s got a secret boyfriend.”

            Feyre snorted, “My money’s on that quiet brooding guy that I’ve seen her with a few times.” The conversation died down as they begged Elain to change her clothes. Her pink sweater was fine. She wasn’t going to go into a bar dressed like she was looking to get some.

[----]

            Illyria was a local watering hole that the more sophisticated students of Prythian went to. Elain liked to consider herself one of the classier members of the student body. Nesta pulled her further into the crowd as they entered the back door. The bar was already packed with all sorts of people from the college town. A bunch of guys tried to talk to them but Nesta blew them off and kept walking past them until they found a table with a direct eye line of the bar.

            Elain rested her head against the back of the chair, “We’re going to freshen up real quick,” Feyre said, taking Nesta by the hand.

            “Oh my God Lydia, you said he was hot but I didn’t know you meant _that_ hot.”

            “Hot is putting it mildly,” Elain smirked as she over heard the conversation in the booth behind her. She already knew who they were talking about, her bar tender.

            “ _Wait… when did he become MY bartender,”_ Elain thought to herself. She shook herself off as Nesta and Feyre reproached the table. Nesta handed her a wad of cash, “Go get us a pitcher,” Feyre laughed at how wide eyed her sister had become, “Just go up there and work your magic Elain, get a light beer too.”

            All Elain needed was for Nesta to give her a quick push too, which she did although it wasn’t vocally done but rather physical.

            With each step she was dragged closer and closer to the bar. Elain had to remind herself that she wasn’t going to be hooking up with anyone that night, she was just going to get a quick peak at him and then be on her way. Graysen was the only guy for her. And then she saw him.

            Her lungs felt like they had been wrapped up with vines as she same the familiar man standing behind the bar. “What can I get you,” he asked the girl next to her. The sound of his voice brought her back to the previous night, the voice had belonged to the mechanic that saved her car.

            The girl was leaned forward, flashing the bartender her cleavage, “What’s good?”

            Elain stared at his flaming red hair, pulled back into a braid as opposed to a ponytail tonight. And a different black t-shirt hugged his muscular pale chest. She could see him even more clearly now. The scar, while still healing, was quite deeply imbedded in his cheek. His jaw line was so sharp she was scared that if she ran her tongue along the base it would cut her. But there was no denying, saying this guy was hot would be a complete understatement.

            Delicious listed off a couple from the tap like he had done it a hundred times before as the girl pressed forward, “What’s your favorite?” She smiled up at him unwavering.

            “Look,” Delicious rolled his eyes, “I’ll come back when you figure out what you want.” His eyes darted behind the girl and landed on Elain, “What’ll you have?”

            Just like that he had dismissed the girl standing in front of her, walked over her as if they were pieces of furniture. Elain stood with her mouth gaping, she had been flirting with him, he’d probably give her the same treatment. His eyes narrowed as he recognized her, “Hey you, how’s the car?”

            “Excuse me, I was here first!” the girl in front of Elain screeched.

            “Then order already,” he snapped, his eyes not leaving Elains, as if he were waiting for her to answer him. The girl huffed and pushed passed Elain, giving her greater access to the bar. He shrugged his shoulders and her and smiled so cunningly it made her stomach flip.

            She lowered her gaze to the bunched up t-shirt that still revealed some of the tattoos hidden beneath; he wasn’t wearing as many earrings as he had been the night before. “Um… Pitcher of Coors Light please,” she finally squeaked out.

            “I.D?”

            “Oh yeah,” Elain began fumbling with her purse as she handed the red head her fake I.D.

            He immediately chuckled, “24?” he asked the smile never leaving his face. She nodded innocently at him, she knew he could tell she was lying. She had always been a rotten liar. “You must have one of those baby faces then.” Elain drew her eyes back as he handed her the I.D. and began pouring the pitcher for her. She couldn’t help but eye the muscles that pulled against the fabric of his t-shirt.

            “Thanks,” she said once he had set the pitcher down on the counter. She handed him the money at turned around. “Take care,” she heard him say as she took her first steps into the crowd. Only she didn’t make two steps before some buffoon bumped into her causing for her to drop the pitcher. She cringed at the sound of the glass shattering against the hardwood floor, “Sorry,” she apologized. She walked back to her previous spot at the bar and pulled out her wad of cash. Her delicious bartender had already moved onto his next customer.

            “That was quick,” he smirked. She looked up and blushed profusely, could she be any more embarrassing?

            “Yeah, I didn’t make it three feet.” She bit out.

            “Ah,” he nodded grabbing another pitcher and filling it up. He placed the pitcher in front of her and braced his hands on the side of the bar, “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he said leaning forward, “Nice girls like you get eaten alive in places like this.”

            Elain cocked an eyebrow, “Maybe I’m not that nice.”

            He threw his head back and let out a bark rather than a laugh, “Love, you’ve got nice girl written all over you,” ok so maybe she was wearing a pink sweater and maybe she was wearing blue jeans and had her hair slung back in a ponytail. But that didn’t mean she was a lame ‘nice’ girl. She could be fun.

            So she frowned at him, “You’d be surprised.”

            “Yeah,” he nodded glancing up and down, “ I would be,” Elain pressed her mouth shut as he leaned in further, “Use your elbows to get out of here,”

            Elain started to hand him the wad of cash but he waved her off, “Don’t worry about it,”

            “You sure? Thanks,” she smiled.

            “Just don’t forget to use those elbows, Nice Girl.” With the parting advice her bartender moved onto the next guest. She stared at him for only a moment, contemplating their interaction. Elain thought about it for the rest of the evening as she stared at him from across the bar. She thought about it until she didn’t think about it anymore. Until she approached Morrigan and her sisters the next day, “Ok I’ll take whatever advice you dish out, I’ll even wear the clothes you want me to.”

           A cat like grin spread across Mor’s face, “Excellent.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night no. 2

Chapter Two:

            Elain sat through botany doodling little flowers on the side of her notes, when class was over she packed all of her stuff up quickly and headed back to the apartment. But as she passed Starbucks, the smell of espresso seduced her into going in for a macchiato. Breathing in the sweet smells of espresso and caramel the sound of her name kissed my cheek.

            Graysen was standing right in front of her. A broad smile burst from her lips at the greeting, “Graysen! It’s so good to see you!” Her eyes swept over his figure, his messy brown hair and matching eyes sweetened her smile.

            “How have you been?” he said, sticking one of his hands in his pockets.

            “Good,” she nodded back, looking down at her drink, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. With him it was always awkward, uncomfortable. At least she was, he was always calm and collected around her. “So what have you been up to?”

            He immediately ran his hands through his hair, “Oh you know, just applying for grad schools. I’m just hoping to get into one of them, you know?”

            “Oh I’m sure you’ll get into all of them!” Elain gushed, the blush on her cheeks now completely visible.

            “The competition is thick, and every program only has so many spots. Watch, I’ll probably end up studying medicine in Haiti or China,” he laughed and Elain nervously followed in suit. After a moment of silence the words began to build in Elain’s throat until she finally reached enough courage to voice them, “So I heard you and Paige broke up…”

            Graysen pursed his lips and stared at his own cup of coffee, “News seems to travel fast around Prythian, doesn’t it?” he chuckled a little while looking back up at Elain, “It was mutual. We’re just exploring our other options.”

            “I’m sorry,” Elain, said, “I didn’t meant to-“

            “No, no,” he shrugged, “It doesn’t bother me, like I said… it was mutual. Besides you’re practically family. We’ve known each other since we were kids, you’re like a sister to me!”

            At the drop of those words Elain felt as though her heart fell into her stomach and was slowly being consumed by the acid. _Great,_ she thought, _he looks at me and thinks ‘sister’ just great._

            “So what about you? Anyone I need to rough up to make sure they treat you right?”

            “No,” she nervously laughed, “There’s nobody, but even if there was you wouldn’t have to do that…” Just as Graysen opened his mouth Elain’s phone began to ring. She apologized before picking it up to find her sister and Mor on the other line. “Feyre, Mor! I’m a little busy right now,”

            “Listen you need to get home right now,” Mor sounded hurried, “It’s an emergency.”

            “Elain seriously, you know I wouldn’t lie to you,” Feyre’s voice echoed into the speaker.

            Elain looked up to see Graysen chuckling, “You better go see what the fuss is all about,”

            “Alright, alright,” she said, “I’m on my way now.” Elain turned back to Graysen, “I’m sorry, it was great seeing you!”

            “Yeah, it was great seeing you too Elain. If you need anything just call.”

            Elain walked all the way back to the apartment, the fall air breezing through her hair. When she got to their apartment she opened the door to find the place completely empty…unusual…suspicious. Her eyes gazed over the living room until she heard two voices coming from her room.

            She opened the door and saw Feyre and Mor standing in front of her bed with a variety of outfits on display. “What are you guys doing?”

            “Elain!” Feyre exclaimed, “We’re picking out your outfit tonight.”

            “This. Was your emergency?” Elain was about one minute away from completely exploding on her sister.

            “Well you only have about six hours to get ready, so yes, it is an emergency,” Mor tsked picking up a different pair of shoes and matching it to one already on the bed.

            “I happened to be talking to Graysen, you know, the guy I’m actually trying to seduce.”

            Mor snorted, “You’re not going to seduce him in nike shorts and a tshirt,” Elain looked down at her attire and knew she was right, “Besides you have to seduce the bartender before you can seduce Graysen,”

            Sighing heavily, Elain sat down at her vanity and let Mor play ‘dress up’ with her.

            She ended up choosing the least scandalous outfit Mor had picked out for her. The black skirt hugged Elain’s butt and the red tank hugged her breasts. Mor had leant her a pair of black pumps, which Elain had almost tripped over three times before they even made it to the door. It had just turned ten o’clock when Mor received a text message and she once again deigned the text message worthy enough to leave her friends.

            “That’s ok,” Feyre, said, “Nesta said she was going to meet up with us later. Maybe Tam will get to come too.” Elain had to stifle a groan at her sister’s long term boy friend.

[-]

            “Oh! There he is!” Feyre exclaimed pointing towards the bar. “I can’t believe Mor just handed him over to you, he’s so hot.”

            “Feyre you have a boyfriend,”

            “I have a boyfriend but I’m not blind.” Feyre nudged her sister forward, “No backing down,” she gave her a little smirk, Elain needless to say wasn’t encouraged.

            “You know,” she started, “His lack of interest in me might come into play. Eventually.”

            “As if!” Feyre lightly slapped her sister’s arm, “You look 10 times better than anyone of these clowns in here trying to impress him.”

            “You really think so?”

            “Yes, and not because you’re my sister.” So Feyre shoved Elain forward again. He was wearing another “Illyria,” tshirt except this one was blue. For a brief second Elain imagined herself wearing that shirt, and nothing else. Nothing else but his shirt and his scent absolutely consuming her, the thought nearly caused a blush to leak out of her as she shook the vile image clean.

            He looked as good as ever, maybe even better. The body of a man who was perfectly sculpted and a face filled with too much steel to be considered beautiful. And yet the sight of him did something to her, made her completely boneless. Almost helpless.

            “No backing down,” Feyre repeated in her sister’s ear. The bartender (she really needed to learn his name) was pouring a pitcher, his eyes scanning the rest of the bar. Maybe he was making sure no mischief happened in his bar, or maybe he was looking to ward off any flirtatious females. His russet eyes passed over Elain’s before jerking back, a smirk etching itself onto his face, “Hey it’s nice girl, how’s it going?”

            “Nice girl!” Feyre shrieked in her ear, “Clearly you did not tell me everything that happened last night.” Nor did Elain plan on it. She didn’t need to explain how her bartender was the guy that helped her when her car broke down a few nights ago.

            So all Elain could say to him was, “Hi,” her stomach dropping at the eye contact, the way he smirked at her.

            He handed off the pitcher and collected the money before he turned back to the sisters. Elain ordered two longnecks. “I.D?” he said to Feyre who scrambled in her purse to find her own fake. When Elain looked back up she found him staring at her before he looked away. He glanced at her I.D and then turned around to prepare their drinks.

            “So hot,” Feyre said almost breathless, “And he was eyeing you the whole time.” Elain shook her head, still in denial about their attraction to one another, “You should slip him your number!”

            “What! No! Are you an idiot?”

            “Just give it to him, either he’ll call or he won’t. Either way you’ll know how he feels based on his reaction.” Feyre started digging around in her purse until she found a pen. She grabbed one of the napkins, “Feyre! What are you doing?” she hissed.

            “There you go,” Feyre said, completely satisfied.

            “Feyre,” Elain warned but it was too late. A pair of long slender fingers reached for the napkin. But Elain clamped her hand over his, “That’s not for you,” she hissed. At least it wasn’t, not yet anyway.

            He bit back a smirk, “Are you sure,” the bartender said his fingers coiling around the now crumpled up napkin.

            “She wants you to have it,” Feyre interjected.

            Elain’s face grew hotter as he leaned his, her hand still covering his, “You want me to have this?” She flew her hand off of his, her face undoubtedly a new shade of red undiscovered by humans, “Yeah sure. Whatever.”

            “Are you giving me this?” He said rephrasing the question, his eyes never leaving her face. His stare was cold, almost unreadable.

            She chewed on her bottom lip before saying, “Yes,” and watching him slip her phone number into his back pocket. And without another word he took the money Feyre had given him and turned to another customer.

            With one hand on her arm, Feyre pulled her sister away from the bar. Elain heard her sister say something, but she wasn’t paying attention to her sister. Instead she dared herself to get one last glance at the bar. He was pouring another pitcher, but his eyes weren’t focused on what they were doing. They were focused on her.

            “I can’t believe you embarrassed me like that,” Elain shook her arm off of her sister before she sat down at their table. She had to focus on not looking back up at the bar, not looking at him.

            “We had to get the ball rolling, and since Mor is otherwise occupied I had to step up to the plate. Nothing was going to happen if you just ordered and moved on.” She did have a point there, Elain thought.

            For the next hour Elain spent her time staring off into space as Tamlin and one of his other fraternity brothers talked to Feyre, about what Elain didn’t care. Tamlin’s friend did get a little too friendly with Elain, she had noticed despite the fact that she had hardly spoken to him. He wasn’t even cute, at least Elain didn’t seem to think so, and maybe she couldn’t tell she barely even looked at him.

            “You sure you don’t want me to have your number?” he had asked her to which she actually responded with, “whatever,” and jotted down a fake.

            At that she glanced back up at the bar, only one bartender was up there now but it wasn’t hers. Thousands of questions and scenarios popped into her mind. Where did he go? Was he on break? Or did he leave early? If he had left early then he could have stopped and talked to her, if he even wanted to. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, she blinked them back rapidly before turning back towards Feyre who could tell I was ready to go. Ready to go, and not with the guys they were with. She nodded, that was one of the great things about Feyre. She never considered her relationship to be more important that her sisterly one, although her boyfriend thought the opposite.

            “I have to go to the bathroom.” Hopefully that would have been enough time for Feyre to say her goodbyes to her boyfriend and his… friend.

            A moment later she was washing her hands and looking at how out of shape her hair was. She really needed a haircut; maybe she’d go with a pixie cut or something. She opened the bathroom door to see Tam’s friend (Don? His name was Don?) Leaning against the wall. Her body stiffened at the sight of him.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she murmured back. Standing in that narrow, dark hallway was not something she wanted to do with him.

“Why don’t you let Feyre go home with Tam and you can come home with me?”

Elain shook her head, “I have to get up early in the morning,” she lied.

He stalked towards her, “Come on,” he said as Elain put her hands up to bar them from coming any closer. “What are you doing?” she said before he swept in and captured her lips. She froze. This. Was her first kiss? Some messy, sloppy, drunken kiss from a guy she hadn’t even looked at properly?

Maybe he was just too drunk to notice that she wasn’t reciprocating his… kiss. Or maybe he thought that she would change her mind and start kissing him back. The latter scenario was definitely not going to happen. Her hands tried to push on his shoulders but they wouldn’t budge. She hit his shoulder again, and he was gone.

Just like that, his grip no longer seized her.

She slid her back against the wall, wiping the remains of her unwanted first kiss away with the back of her hand.

Don was on the floor, and another figure loomed over him. It took Elain a moment to recognize her savior as her bartender. Waling on Don for what he had just done. Elain lurched forward, he hands delicately placing themselves on his shoulders, the ends of her fingertips gripping the blue t-shirt. “No, stop!” she said.

The bartender looked back at Elain, his jawline tense, and his eyes unwavering. Again, he was almost unreadable. “Are you alright?” the words rumbled deep within his chest.

Elain nodded, “I’m fine, you can let him go.”

The muscles in his arm began to loosen; at this point Elain realized that she still held onto his arm. Her eyes dared to glance down and see where their skin connected. There it was, her fingertips had moved to the tight muscles of his bicep. But to her own surprise she didn’t let go, not yet anyway.

He tore his gaze away from Elain, she dropped her hands, “Get out of my bar.” He snarled at Don who was still bleeding and blubbering on the floor, “And don’t come back,”

After he scurried away, the bartender leaned against the opposing wall. Elain pulled a piece of hair behind her ear, “Thank you,” she said.

“I saw him follow you into the hall,”

Elain’s head jerked up to meet his, “You were watching me?”

He shrugged, “I saw you pass by,”

So he was watching her, the knowledge of that lifted Elain’s heart from where it had previously fallen. It almost made her first kiss experience a little bit better.

She rubbed her hands against her thighs, leaning off of the wall, “Well thanks again, I hope you don’t get in trouble with your boss over this. If you need me to vouch for you I will.”

“I’ll be alright,” was all he said.

Before turning out of the hallway Elain looked back, “What’s your name?” she asked. She wasn’t about to go back to her apartment and dream of someone she just referred to as ‘her bartender’.

“Lucien.”

She moistened her lips, “I’m Elain,” she said.

“I know,” he said his eyes still unreadable. Elain nearly wanted to pop herself on the head, of course he would know, the napkin. With a shaky smile she headed back into the main room, leaving Lucien in the hallway.

Feyre immediately jumped from the table, she was alone. Tam probably saw to it that his brother got home safely. “What the hell happened to that guy’s face?”

“Lucien happened,” Elain said. His name rolling off of her lips like something pure, something new.

“Lucien?” Feyre cocked an eyebrow.

“The bartender.”

Feyre looked completely in awe, “I think you’ve done more than capture his attention sis.”

“He was just doing his job,” and he was watching her, but Elain wasn’t just going to blurt out the facts that she knew.

“Trust me,” Feyre said, “He’s going to call you.”

Elain wasn’t as naïve as Mor thought, or as stupid as Nesta acted like she was, Elain knew he wasn’t going to call. He could have kept her in the hall longer, said anything to fill the awkwardness of the whole situation but he didn’t. For a ‘player’ he didn’t make any moves on her, he barely even smiled at her except for when he was poking fun at her. And even then they weren’t real smiles.

No, he wouldn’t call. And that wasn’t Elain being negative, she just knew.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful world, I was a wee bit drunk on pink moscato when I wrote the better half of this chapter. So excuse any mistake imake writing this. Im too tipsy to give a fuck about grammatical errors.

               He didn’t call. Not even a text message, just as Elain had suspected. Still, she glanced too quickly at her phone whenever it made a noise, just hoping Feyre was right.

Naturally, she blamed Feyre, it was her after all who put those seeds of hope inside of her mind. She couldn’t stop glaring at her as she stood in front of her desk, distracting her from her Botany notes.

               “You know we’re going back tonight right?”

               “Uh. No. We aren’t.” Elain nearly spat out. The fire that burned in Nesta’s blood might be rubbing off on her.

               “Come on,” Feyre said, plopping down next to her on the floor, “You can’t just back out all of a sudden. We just started having fun!”

               “I’m not training for the Olympics Feyre,” Elain bit the inside of her cheek to keep her words as calm and collected as she wanted to be.

               “Yes you are, just think of Graysen as your gold medal.” Feyre paused, waiting for Elain to say something, “Since I’m going to that concert with Tam, I’ll make _sure_ Morrigan goes tonight. And Nesta can go too! It’ll be a little group and I’ll be texting all of you for updates, so it’ll be just like I’m there!” Elain finally dared to look in her younger sister’s eyes, “Say yes Elain,” she drilled.

               “Fine. Yes.”

               Feyre jumped off of the floor too excited for this, “YES! I’ll gather the girls and you jump in the shower, but don’t pick out your outfit. I’m in charge of that department.”

               “of course you are,” Elain groaned getting up from her chair. She went over to the bathroom and turned the faucet on. The hot water hit her back and the steam in the room filled her lungs. She dreaded it honestly, going back there again. She didn’t want to seem like a desperate nobody. He could have contacted her if he was interested in her, could have kept her in that hallway a little longer. But he didn’t. He just let her go, maybe she should do the same. But the thought of him sent an unusual feeling down her body, butterflies danced in her belly and a blush crept on her cheeks. No one had every made her feel that way, well Graysen did. Sometimes.

               She could picture him perfectly, his eyes that were so hazel they were nearly orange. A deep russet that she had only seen in the midst of October, when leaves were falling and the crisp air hit her face. Elain liked that he made her think of October that was her favorite month. Still, those eyes scanned the crowd and focused solely on her. In addition to being fine as yell he had that sarcastic witty thing going for him. It was so incredibly cliché it shouldn’t have worked on her. But yeah, she was a fool for it. Just like every other girl that walked into Illyria.

               At the thought of that Elain shut off the water, her butterflies were gone and she frowned as she began drying off her body. He might be accustomed to making out with a different girl everyday and sleeping with women whose names he couldn’t recall in the morning but Elain…

               Elain wanted to be different.

              She wanted to be remembered.

              Feyre didn’t just round up Mor and Nesta, she had asked a few other girls they knew on their floor to join them. There were so many people they had to take two cars. Elain drover her own car, she liked to be in control of when they arrived and when they left and she wasn’t a heavy drinker like some of the girls were.

              Walking into the bar Elain immediately noticed how packed it was. But she noticed Lucien immediately, my god did he do anything else but work at this bar? Was he a student? Disappointment curled in Elain’s stomach where butterflies had once been, what if there was nothing else for him? No goals outside of tending a bar.

              Graysen was her goal. He was the cherry on top of her sundae and by God she was going to have it. The whole sundae. She wanted to finish her degree and get married and have 2.5 kids. She wanted to have the stability that her father could never give her and her sisters, and Lucien wasn’t that. Graysen was.

              “Here you go,” Nesta said plopping the money in her hand, “We’ll start with a couple of pitchers. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you to help you carry them.” Elain looked back up to the bar, already feeling the redundancy of their meeting. He hadn’t spotted her yet and she wanted to run, far, far away from him. She could only imagine the look he would give her when she approached the bar for the third night in a row and call her out as the idiot that she was.

              But there was a little voice in Elain’s head, the same voice that said he would call her, that said he would never do that.“I don’t want to do this,” she finally said.

              “What! Why?”

              “Listen this just isn’t my MO, to chase after silver tongued bar tenders. I’m sure he gets that I’m interested. If he’s the ‘player’ why am I doing all of the chasing?”

              Nesta stared at he sister, “He just hasn’t had the opportunity yet, I’m sure when his ass isn’t hiding behind the counter then he’ll make his move.” Elain shook her head and slapped the money back into Nesta’s hand. If he really was interested in her then he would have _made_ an opportunity. Not avoided it at all costs.

              “You do it, and Ill stand close behind you and watch.” Nesta rolled her eyes, “I’m not standing in front of him for the third night, I might as well have a poster board that says ‘I WANT YOU!” on it.” Elain flashed her sister a warning look, “And don’t you dare embarrass me like Feyre did.”

              “Fine.” Nesta bit out and started walking towards the bar with the money clutched rather harshly in her hand. She held the crinkled money in her hand and it only took a couple of minutes for her to have his attention. When he saw that it was Nesta his eyes scanned around the room, as if he was looking for someone. Elain held her breath as their eyes locked for no more than a second. Just long enough for him to acknowledge her presence. No more, no less. And then his gaze returned to Nesta.

              He nodded at her and she began telling him her order. He nodded again and turned to make the pitchers for her. He handed her the change and the drinks, all without looking at Elain.

              She pursed her lips and ran her hand almost too harshly through her hair. What the hell was she doing? Why was she trying to change who she was so Graysen could notice? This wasn’t her, none of it was.

            By the time Nesta had walked over to her she felt even more ashamed, more embarrassed than ever before. Nesta turned immediately toward her sister, her brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

            Elain shook her head, “This is crazy.” She started, “I don’t want to be here at all, I don’t know why I’m here. I’m going home.”

            Her older sister’s eyes widened and she frowned, “Aw don’t go,” but Elain stood her ground, “Ok…” Nesta said. She really didn’t want her sister to be upset.

            “No, you should stay. Catch a ride back with Cresseida or someone.”

            “Wait, I’ll go with you, I don’t want you to be at home by yourself.” She had already set her pitchers on the table and readjusted her purse around her shoulder.

            “No,” Elain said, “You stay, I’ve got a bio test on Monday anyway.”

            “Ok,” Nesta said uncertain whether she should actually listen to her sister or not. But Elain reassured her that she would be fine, she just wasn’t feeling it tonight. “I’ll see you later then,” Elain then turned and began walking out of Illyria.

            Stepping out of the bar a blast of cold air hit her face as if she had walked into an icy autumn filled pool. She made it halfway through the parking lot, when she remembered that she had skipped lunch. She began dreaming about a large fry and sweet tea from McDonalds when a hand clasped firmly on her shoulder. She let out a shriek and turned around, her fist skyrocketing into a man’s shoulder.

           “Whoa there,” a deep chuckle launched from the man, Lucien’s shoulder. He stood there with one hand high in the air while the other rubbed the spot on his shoulder that she had just struck.

           Elain’s eyes widened at the sight of him, “Oh my god,” she said her hand reaching and then retracting from him, “Are you alright? I am so sorry!”

           “Nah,” he said brushing her off, “I should have said something before touching you,”

           All Elain did was stand there, completely off guard that he was there and right in front of her. She cocked her head at him and gestured to the air between them, “Were you… Following me??”

           Lucien pursed his lips, “I saw you leaving.”

           A smirk appeared on her lips, “So that’s a yes?” She delighted in the fact that she wasn’t invisible. He could see her.

           He shook his head at her, maybe slightly embarrassed, “Look, you shouldn’t be out here alone at night. Although with a little more practice and better aim, maybe I shouldn’t be saying that.” Her cheeks burned at his teasing, “Regardless, when guys have a little too much to drink and come out here, see a pretty girl…” Elain wished she had heard the better part of his speech but she only heard one word. Pretty. After that every other word was irrelevant. “Let me walk you to your car,” he asked.

          “Thank you,” She turned back towards and he fell in step beside her.

          With him standing beside her she finally grasped how tall he was. She wasn’t small like some of the other girls. She and her sisters were pretty tall about 5’5 and she barely reached Lucien’s chin. “I hope you don’t get in trouble, you know for leaving the bar.”

         “It’ll be fine,” was all he said. After a few moments of silence he decided to be the one to fill it, “You’re leaving a little early aren’t you?”

         “Yeah, I just… wasn’t feeling it tonight.”

         A bark, louder than the one from the previous night, erupted from his mouth, “Not feeling it tonight,” he repeated her, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there and have not been “feeling” it.”

         “You don’t like your job?” she asked.

         He shrugged, slipping one hand in his pocket, “Sometimes I do.”

        “Are you a student?”

        “Nope, well unless you consider the two semesters I did. But no, I just graduated from high school.” Her heart sank at that, so there really wasn’t anything else for him. Working at a bar was all that was there for him, bummer. “You in college?” he asked.

        She nodded. “Let me guess,” he smirked, “Prythian?” Her silence caused another rumble of laughter to erupt from his chest, “Thought so,”

        Elain stopped in her tracks, already so close to her car, “What’s that supposed to mean!?”

        “Nothing, nothing,” he said his hands rose in the air, “Just you’ve got Ivy League written all over you.” She scowled at him, why did it feel like an insult? “You just look nice, sweet, smart.” Then he added another chunk of wood to the fire, “And you’re not a regular but you’ve been here three nights in a row.”

        “My sister Nesta comes here a lot, you probably know her.” Elain said almost too quickly.

       “So last night didn’t scare you off? You’ve decided to really start living the college party life.”

       “Should I have let it scare me?” she chose to ignore the other part of his question. “I told you before,” she looked at him, “I’m full of surprises. I’m not some lame nice girl.”

       “I didn’t say that,” he said.

       They halted at her car, “Oh I forgot, girls like me should stay at home and bake cookies.”

       “I didn’t say that either,”

       “You didn’t have to!” She began fumbling with her keys, “I might look like every other star struck bimbo that walks into your bar but you’ve got another thing coming buddy.”

       She looked back up from her key to find him smirking at her. Seriously he was infuriating, she was beginning to wonder how he got girls to hook up with him so often. “You love putting words in my mouth don’t you sweetheart?”

       “I know you’re thinking it.” She popped the door to her minivan open but still stood outside the car.

       “You’re right,” he admitted, “You’re not like all of the other bimbos that walk into my bar every night.”

       She raised her eyebrows at him, “Gee, that’s great.”

       “That’s not a bad thing,” he said taking a step towards her. And suddenly that helpless feeling returned to Elain. Her bones felt shaky, she needed to sit down and just as she was about to speak he beat her to the punch, “Tell me something Elain,” She almost trembled at the first time she heard him say her name.

       “How old are you really?”

       “Twenty,” she said.

       He began to chuckle again, “Oh honey, you’re just a kid.”

       “What!” she said completely outraged again, the helpless feeling almost gone, “I am not! What are you like 22?”

       “23,” he corrected her.

       “Whatever,” she said her hands flying up in the air, “I’m not a kid.”

       The half-smile had stopped being cute by now and was just plain irritating, “Whatever you say,”

       “Don’t do that,” she snarled,

       “Do what?”

       “Condescend to me.”

        His mouth formed an “oh”, “Oh I’ve done it now, Nice College girl is whipping out that big vocabulary.”

        “You’re an ass, why don’t you go back to work and serve up beer and greasy hot wings.”

        When she turned to get into her car his hand clasped itself around her bicep, “Hey,” he said pulling her back to face him, “The wings aren’t greasy, “ Earlier she might at have laughed at that, except his expression was unreadable again. His russet eyes dropped to her lips.

 _Oh my god,_ she thought, _he’s about to kiss me!_

        She was about to have her first kiss, she wasn’t about to count the creep from the night before. Even Mor said she couldn’t count that as her first kiss, and here she was 24 hours later about to have her first kiss with the guy who saved her.

        He moved toward her again until his head dipped and his lips brushed against hers. It wasn’t fast, not like in those cheesy romance novels where the two lovers made out with enough passion to ignite the sun. No, it was soft and it was sweet, and it made her blood rush throughout her body. His hands reached up and cupped her cheek, cradling it like she was about to fall apart. It was so intimate, so real, she could hardly believe she wasn’t dreaming.

       For a moment, she thought it was over. He pulled back and looked at her, there was fire dancing in his eyes as he assessed her reaction. His hands still cradled her cheeks, his thumbs even brushed against them. So gentle. So caring. No, this couldn’t be a dream.

       And then his mouth was on hers again, this one was more tentative, rough than the last one and yet still so caring. Delicious lived up to his name, his mouth tasted like pure deliciousness. His tongue traced the entrance of her lips, letting him inside she gripped his shoulders. Her fingers curled themselves into his shirt, engorging herself in his taste.

       As if all at once it was over, she staggered back feeling a loss of body heat between them. His hands still held her face and his forehead rested against hers before smirking before her again, “Get home safe sweetheart,” he said before leaving her and going back into Illyria. Not another word, not even another glance back.

       So Elain did just that, drove home without second thought.

       She wasn’t interested in a relationship with this guy.

       Right?


	4. Chapter 4

Midterms were finally approaching and Elain had already survived through two of them. Two down one to go, so after her Botany exam she headed to the library to grab her fourth cup of coffee within the last twelve hours. She kept saying the coffee was for her studies but to be frank, she hadn’t slept well the past few nights. Well. Not since Lucien had kissed her.

Feyre had claimed that it was sign of Elain’s growing ‘irresistibility’. The fact that Lucien had followed her out into the parking lot was because of her mad seduction skills, Feyre’s words not Elain’s. Despite what Feyre kept telling her it didn’t deviate from the fact that Elain felt like she was in high school all over again. Lucien had walked away from their kiss without so much as a glance back and a farewell for her to get home safe. She was worried she was going to turn around and hear a crowd of whispers, “bad breathe” or even worse, “worst kisser ever”.

Except it was completely ridiculous! This was Prythian, esteemed Ivy League University! No one was going to pay any attention to her or her kissing skills, whether they were good or not. They had doctorates and medical licenses to worry about.

Mor had suggested that when they finished their Midterms they should go back; see if he had missed her. It was absurd to think that any more would happen between them. But still… it was a possibility that sent Elain’s heart aflutter. Her heart buzzed like a thousand honey bees and her smile was the nectar. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, whether he would ignore her or he didn’t. And then there was the third option that he wouldn’t even remember her.

“I’m starting to wonder if you’re following me,” Elain glanced up from her notes. she was seated towards the entrance of the library, closest to the coffee shop in case she needed another cup. Nectar poured from Elain’s lips at the sight of Graysen before her.

“Sorry,” he chuckled probably for her benefit, “But if people keep seeing us together they’re going to think we’re having an affair,”

“Oh stop it,” She giggled, her hand lightly slapping his arm.

Graysen glanced down at her almost empty cup, “Hey what did you have, I’ll grab you another.”

Her eyes widened at the request, it reminded her of how different they were, “No, you don’t have to do that. Keep your money.”

He only shook his head though, “Elain you work so hard, with school and your job. Let me buy you lunch from the coffee house.” Yes, so different. Elain wasn’t ashamed of how hard they worked. Feyre was the first to get a job after their father had declared bankruptcy. Feyre was the reason they had food on the table, until Elain and Nesta’s senses kicked in and they both started working too. All three of them passed through high school with flying colors. They did what they had to do in order to survive.

Graysen was different. He didn’t grow up not knowing when his next meal would be. His parents, loving and kind, they always thought about what was best for their family as a whole rather than themselves. Elain remembered her mother being warm, nurturing, the traits a mother is supposed to have. But she died before Feyre could even ride a bike. So that left the three of them with their father who was always starting and failing businesses.

At least when Nesta turned 18 she was able to get Elain and Feyre out of their father’s house and the three had been living in an apartment together ever since. It wasn’t the biggest apartment, but the three of them made it work. And surprisingly enough, their father would send them money whenever he ‘could’.

Elain wasn’t ashamed of her past, no her family didn’t go on vacation or get their nails done every Tuesday. But they were her family and her sisters had survived the harshest of winters with her under her father’s roof. When she looked at Graysen she saw the stability that she would have to herself, to her future children. That’s all she wanted, was for her children to never have to worry about if the heater would break or where their next meal would come from.

“Okay,” she finally said. So he wanted to take care of her lunch, so she would let him.

He came back a few minutes later with a turkey sandwich and a cup of soup, “Do you have time to talk for a minute?” he asked sitting across from her.

Elain shut her laptop and reached for the soup, “Fire away,” Gosh could she have sounded any weirder??

“I stayed with Paige for too long,” he sighed while leaning back in his seat. “I think I stayed with her because I didn’t want to hurt her. Or maybe it was to prevent myself from inconveniencing either one of us,” After moments Elain didn’t say anything, “I’m sorry,” he finally said, “Like I said a while ago, we grew up together. I feel like you know me best. All of me, not just the Ivy League me,” he chuckled at himself.

“I don’t think this makes you a bad person, if that’s what you’re asking me?” Elain said. “You are allowed to be happy Graysen, other people’s happiness shouldn’t reflect your own. Maybe if you’re happy together it’s supposed to fuel you, but not drain you.”

            She swallowed desperately at the sight of his twinkling gray eyes. “I’m glad I ran into you,” he smirked. Elain smiled at him again as he leaned in just a smidge, “Listen I was wondering, if you needed a ride back for Thanksgiving I have an extra seat. Unless… you have other plans.”

            “No, it’ll be good to have someone to talk to.”

            “For sure,” he said, “And I promise, I won’t make you listen to The Chainsmokers the entire way.” She laughed as he stood up, his own cup of coffee in hand. “This was good, let’s keep in touch. I’ll text you sometime.” Elain watched Graysen as he left the library, everything was falling into place, she reached into her pocket and messaged the girls on their group message.

[-]

            Walking into the O’Malley’s house was like walking into a fairy land. A fairy land she had never known, one filled with a well off family and the love to match it. A home she had never known, but hopefully one she could one day make.

            Elain didn’t make it two feet before two toddlers glomped each of her legs, “Elain!” they cried, “We missed you, we missed you!”

            She threw her head back and laughed, “I missed you too!!” After gently prying them away Elain saw the two princesses before her Anna and Mary.

            “These are new, very nice!” she pointed to their costumes, “I love them! Wish I had a big poufy dress like that.”

            Mary’s eyes grew four sizes, “We’ll order you one from the princess store,”

            “Well my birthday _is_ coming up!” Elain glanced up at the figure of Mrs. O’Malley coming down the stairs, still adjusting her last earring. She was radiant, full of class and elegance that a mother should have.

            “They have been bugging us all week about when Miss. Elain was going to come back,” she smiled, “So glad you could do this on short notice, we completely forgot about this dinner meeting for some clients of ours.”

            “It’s no trouble!” Elain said, “I love these girls so much I don’t mind putting down the books every once in a while.”

            Mrs. O’Malley turned to the kitchen, “Michael I’m ready! Come on we’re going to be late!” she turned back to Elain, “My apologies, we’ve had a minor crisis today. The garbage disposal has stopped working,” she glared in the direction of her eldest daughter, “Anna may have decided to hide her marbles down the drain.”

            When Mrs. O’Malley began walking Elain knew to follow, “I’ve already made dinner and it’s heating up on the stove. Feel free to help yourself out to anything you want, as usual.”

            “It smells delicious,” Elain said taking in a whiff of the nice pot of spaghetti sitting on the stove. The rich scents of garlic knots filled the art and danced on the edge of her nostrils. “Thank you, I think I’ve finally perfected my mother’s recipe.”

            Just as they stopped at the stove Mrs. O’Malley turned to her husband, “Michael, would you rather stay here or eat with me and the Washington’s at Café Amore?” When he didn’t respond she pressed further, “Michael, we have to be there in half an hour, can you please just let Lucien off the hook.”

            Elain’s breath sharpened at the name. It was an unusual name, but she prayed there were two different Lucien’s and the one she had kissed wasn’t ten feet away from her. She stepped closer to Mr. O’Malley who was standing above a figure, a familiar figure, looking at the inside of the garbage disposal.

            Her stomach completely flattened at the familiar body she saw before her, yup it was definitely her Lucien. The guy she had kissed four days ago and hadn’t bothered to show back up at the bar he worked at. Then again he hadn’t contacted her in any way either so the whole situation was about to become 10x more awkward.

            “We’re almost done,” Mr. O’Malley said much to his wife’s distress.

            “We had to call in for back up,” she said to Elain, “Michael’s not really a handyman, most accountants aren’t.”

            “Thank you darling, we all heard that,” he said.

            “Michael, we’re going to be late.”

            Just as Mr. O’Malley was going to speak Lucien spoke from inside the cabinets, “I’m almost done here Mr. O’Malley, you guys can go ahead and go.”

            “Thank you Lucien,” Mrs. O’Malley said handing him his coat, “If you need anything just call Elain.” At the sound of her name, Elain watched as the muscles on Lucien’s back stiffened. Her name wasn’t exactly popular either, and she had mentioned she worked for the O’Malley’s before. A knot formed in her stomach at the knowledge he knew she was there, that he was there.

            The last time she had seen him was after he kissed her, the image of him walking back into Illyria was still fresh on her mind. Lucien slid halfway out of the sink, propping himself up on his elbows, their eyes breached contact, “Hey,” he said.

            “Hi,” she returned.

            Awkwardness crackled through the air. Was this really happening, and if it was why?

            “I haven’t seen you in a while,”

            Elain bit her bottom lip, “Midterms,” he nodded at her. He looked down at the screw driver he was fiddling with.

            Lucky for Elain the two little princesses flew to her hip demanding to be fed. Within a few moments Lucien was packing up his tools, “You can use this sink now,” he said as Elain placed the girls bowls in front of them.

            “Are you going to stay for dinner Lucien?” Anna asked.

            Elain’s heart shattered at the small smile that played on his lips. He ruffled the little girls hair and smiled at her with such warmth, “I don’t think I can today Princess Anna.”

            Both of the little girls frowned and turned to Elain, “I insist, least we could do after you saved our garbage disposal.”

            “I guess I wouldn’t mind a quick bite,” the playfulness in his eyes suddenly changing. “What are we eating?” he turned back to the girls.

            “We’re eating noodles!”

            “and bread,”

            “Sounds good,” Lucien said.

            “I got 1,2,3 meatballs,” Mary counted.

            “I think I’m going to eat twenty,” Lucien said rather calmly. The two girls went into a complete fit over it. Like it was the funniest thing they had ever said. Elain put her plate down and handed Lucien his, “Sorry I don’t think there’s twenty in that bowl.”

            “There’s always seconds,” he said, his eyes flickering to her lips. Her cheeks burned throughout dinner, whenever she glanced up his eyes were waiting for her. Like she was his dessert or something like that. But watching him interact with the girls it made her realize that she didn’t know him. Not the real him. She only knew the person he was when he ran a bar. Not the person that was good at fixing garbage disposals or good with children.

            When the girls were finished, most of their dinner on the sides of their mouths rather than in their bellies Elain gathered them up, “Alright let’s get you guys cleaned up and ready for bed.”

            “Two stories?” Mary yawned.

            “I think two stories sound fair,” Elain smiled leading them to wash their hands. Lucien watched her from his seat at the kitchen table. “You’re good with them,” he said after the girls had raced upstairs.

            “I was thinking the same thing about you,”

            “Not really,” he shrugged, “I grew up with four brothers. I know what kids want,” he chuckled at the history Elain didn’t know behind his words.

            “Makes two of us then,” she smiled, “Thanks,” he said.

            “I want to work with kids,” she offered, “I’m getting a degree in botany. So I can teach kids about the plants and stuff.”

            He raised his eyebrows at her, “You mean you’re going Prythian and you don’t want to be a brain surgeon?” She shook her head, “Interesting.”

            “Are you stereotyping me?” he shrugged and he chuckled, “You really are an ass.”

            “Shh now, we don’t want the girls to hear that bad college girl mouth of yours.”

            “You didn’t seem to think my mouth was bad the other night.”

            “Far from it actually.” Elain rolled her eyes at the smirk he threw her and turned to go upstairs and make sure the girls were actually heading off to bed.

            She returned downstairs about half an hour later, the kitchen spotless. The dirty dishes were cleaned and put away and all of the leftovers were in the fridge. Yeah, she was helpless. Completely helpless when it came to this guy.

            He was definitely messing with all of her plans.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

            “Why am I doing this again?” Elain asked as Feyre put the last roller into her head. She looked like a beauty school dropout with all the pins and overly large rollers in her hair.

            Mor raised her eyebrows and smirked, “This will seal the deal,”

            “And how do you know that?”

            “Well Mr. Bartender kissed you right?”

            “He also never called me or made any other attempt to contact me,” Elain interrupted, “So I would say I’m far from ‘sealing the deal’ with him.”

            Mor shrugged and returned to her phone, whoever she was texting was eager to talk to her, but she promised she wouldn’t bail on them for the one-hundredth time. “He ate dinner with you and the girls right? That totally means he wants you!”

            Elain pursed her lips, planning to continue her denial streak, “He was probably just hungry. Wanted a free meal.”

            “More importantly,” Feyre said, “Graysen is finally starting to come around!”

            “I never said he was-”

            “Elain he wouldn’t offer to drive you home for thanksgiving unless he was interested. And besides you’re only going to visit dad for the day. We’ll meet you down there later.”

            Mor chuckled looking up from her phone; “No man would endure a four hour car ride with a woman he doesn’t want to sleep with.”

            “Morrigan!” Elain exclaimed biting her lip.

            “It’s nice, a little pampering doesn’t hurt every now and again. And maybe, just maybe when you’re Mrs. Elain Archeon, you will get to be pampered even more often!” Elain smiled at that. Mrs. Elain Archeon. The name she would have when she married Graysen, and even though he was planning on being a brain surgeon she was never interested in him for the money. His family was perfect; she wanted that, a perfect, happy family.       

            And somehow she still couldn’t stop thinking about that steamy bartender.

            The one who had kissed her and eaten dinner with her. The one who was good with kids and who was also a super handy man. He and Graysen were so different and now she couldn’t help but notice Graysen wasn’t occupying her mind as much as it should have.

            As Feyre unraveled the hot rollers and placed a few simple pins in her hair Elain was, “Stunning,” Mor said. Elain’s golden hair, the lightest of her sister’s, raveled in small loose curls. With a dash of blush and a fresh coat of lipstick she was good to go. Midterms nearly killed her, she deserved a break.

            “You look amazing Elain,” Feyre said.

            “Thanks,” Elain said tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

            “Now what to put you in,” Mor clicked her tongue and walked over to her closet.

            Elain grabbed her sweater, “I want to wear this.”

            Feyre flashed a glare at her sister, “I did not make your hair look all femme fataley just so you could dress like a basic white girl. You have to look sexy and that sweater doesn’t cut it.”

            “But it’s cold,” Elain whined.

            After wrestling with each other for a moment they made a compromise. Low-neck line, cardigan.

[-]

            The group found a table next to the jukebox, a perfect view of the bar.

            “He’s working tonight,” Elain whispered in Mor’s ear.

            She nodded, “I’ll bring him over,”

            Elain’s head whipped around, “What!? You can’t do that he’s working!”

            Mor rolled her eyes, “He’s not that busy, it’s barely ten o’clock.” Elain’s eyes were wide with worry, what the hell was Mor thinking? Bringing him over to their table was a big mistake; then again… maybe it would work in her favor.

            “Oh… Okay,” Elain said.

            Despite Elain’s worrying Mor only smiled, “Elain come on, I wouldn’t embarrass you like those other two idiots.” That statement earned a “HEY!” from both of the other girls, Mor only rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have talked you into flirting with this guy if I didn’t know he would take care of you. He’s a good guy, yeah he can be… flirtatious more often than desired but he’s a good guy.” Elain nodded, she trusted Mor. At least… she wanted to.

            Wherever Mor ran off to, the Archeon sisters didn’t know. But Elain’s eyes kept flickering to the bar until a loud and obnoxious woman interrupted her view.

            Amarantha.

            The sight of her set Elain’s blood on fire. She was another reason they knew about Lucien. Apparently Amarantha had been the one to tell Feyre about Lucien. It shouldn’t make her mad, she knew that much. What did she care about who Lucien had slept with in the past?

            “Whatcha doing Doe Eyes?” She said with that piss worthy smirk.

            “None of your business.” Nesta growled.

            But Amarantha’s eyes followed where Elain’s had previously been and she let out a cackle, “Oh that’s so sweet Elain, you have a crush! I thought the only think you fooled around with was your calculator!”

            Elain bit back every ounce of hate she had for the woman before her. “Don’t be a bitch,” Nesta snarled.

            “So who is he Elain?”

            “Apparently you already know him,” Elain decided to speak up. “The bartender who works here.”

            Amarantha’s eyes widened, “Wow Elain I didn’t realize you could be so flexible. I mean I dated him for a while but ever since we ended it he’s been such a whore. Although I should have figured that when we would fuck in the back seat of his car.”

            And there it was. The sour image that filled Elain’s mind. Her bartender and the piece of filth in front of her banging in the back seat of a car, the mirrors completely fogged up. And suddenly her spontaneous kiss out by her car had molded. The kiss had seemed so unplanned, so natural, almost as if it had surprised him too. Had she been the third? The fourth girl he had kissed that night? It made her heart sink; she wished Amarantha had left them alone even more now.

            Elain’s phone buzzed in her lap, she looked down and read a text from Feyre. “Don’t worry, we’ve been watching him for weeks. If he was hooking up with someone we would have noticed.” She looked up from her phone to find her sister smiling at her; she returned it graciously, the moldy image from her mind now cleaned up.

            “Well let’s just ask him shall we?” Amarantha smiled.

            Elain swallowed as the image of her Mor returned to their table with another person following slowly behind. “Rhys,” Amarantha said, “It’s been a while.”

            The man who had followed Mor was not her bartender. Elain whipped her head around to her sisters. Nesta looked confused and Feyre looked as if she were watching a thousand shooting stars at once. She couldn’t blame her, the man was gorgeous, almost completely opposite of Lucien. His skin was tan and his eyes were full of violet, full of starlight.

            “We’ve been over this,” Rhys bit out, “You’re banned from the bar.”

            Amarantha pouted, “That’s ok baby,” She stepped forward placing a crisp kiss on his cheek. Elain could have sworn he winced at that. “I’ll be back when you’re ready.”

            As Amarantha walked away none looked back. But as the bell rang at her departure a feline grin appeared on his face. “Now that that’s over with, Mor what did you want to talk to me about?”

            Mor rolled her eyes, “Well you know my friend Elain, and these are her sister’s Nesta and Feyre. You probably recognize them too.”

            “That’s not him Mor,” Elain spoke up as Rhys gave his cousin a concerning look.

            He raised an eyebrow at Elain, “Should I remember you? I mean I’d never forget people as pretty as you sisters are.” Mor slapped Rhys’s arm. “You’ve been hanging out with Cassian too much since he’s gotten back.” She sighed.

            “Whoa whoa you work here?” Nesta intervened.

            “Honey I own this fine establishment.” Rhys said.

            “Then how come I’ve never seen you here before,” Feyre said for the first time since he had approached the table. It was the first time he had really paid attention to her either. But he looked like he had been hit by one of the shooting stars that she saw in her vision. His smile grew more genuine, “Recently,” he began, “I’ve had to deal with some business endeavors so I haven’t been able to be here at night as often.”

            “Lucien?” Elain said, her eyes squinting from embarrassment, shame.

            Rhys turned back to her, “You mean my brother, what about him?”

            Her eyes widened at the declaration, “Brother?”

            “Well in the sense that all bastards are brothers, Lucien might as well share my blood.”

            “Wait,” Mor said, “You’ve been trying to make a play at Lucien? He never gives anyone the time of day.”

            “Well he gave Elain the time of day! He kissed her!” Nesta said, “Also how did you not warn us that he wasn’t your cousin. The guy you wanted to set her up with!”

            “I don’t know, you never said his name around me. He was just ‘the bartender’ and I completely forgot about our familial endeavors Rhys has been having to deal with.”

            Rhys, ignoring the drama at hand, lit up like a Christmas tree. His eyes twinkling, his mouth in a full blown genuine smile, “My brother kissed you??”

            “Don’t you get it?” Mor said, “She thought he was you,”

            He turned back to Elain, “You came here to make out with me?”

            “Of course not!” Elain exclaimed, “I have to go,” she said getting up from the booth. She had to get out of Illyria as soon as she could, the over whelming embarrassment was too much for her.

            “I’ll go with you,” Nesta said taking Elain’s hand and weaving her through the crowd. Of course they stopped a couple of times to talk to people that Nesta knew. And as the sea of people got thicker it became harder for Elain to keep a tight grip of Nesta’s hand. She eventually lost that connection for a few moments before she felt someone tug at her wrist. She sighed in relief, now they could leave. Elain turned but saw Lucien’s face, hard as a rock, instead of Nesta who had probably run into someone else she knew.

            Her face burned at the sight of him, his hand wrapped around hers like chains. “Hey there,” she managed.

            “Heard you met my brother,” Ok so just right to it, no greeting or anything.

            “Yeah I did, nice guy.”

            “Is it true?” her stomach dropped at the sudden change in his russet eyes, “That you thought I was him, that you came here looking for him?” Elain shook her head, not being able to find the words to tell him the truth. So he laughed, “Then why did he tell me that? That that’s why you’ve been so… so friendly with me…”

            “No,” Elain said shaking her head again, “Absolutely not.”

            “You wanted to hook up with my brother because of the rumors you’ve heard around him.” It was a statement, not an accusation. Full of imperial judgement.

            “Rumors?” What the hell was she doing trying to play dumb. She knew he wasn’t stupid.

            “The rumor that my brother fucks any girl who so much as gives him a smile.” Elain’s heart jostled at that. How now how low he thought of her. How he thought all she wanted to do was fuck him and leave him. Which is actually sort of what she wanted, but now it felt so much dirtier that she thought it was ten minutes ago. There was genuine pain there, from what she didn’t know.

            “I didn’t throw myself at him,” she snapped, “I just met him tonight.”

            “But you came here for him, you thought I was him.” He repeated.

            Avoiding confrontation, that was what Elain was best at, so she decided to loosen her grip around his and disappear into the crowd. A few moments later she found Nesta near the door, her phone in her hand. “There you are, I’ve been looking for you.”

            “Let’s go,” Elain growled, grabbing the keys from inside her purse.

            “What’s wrong?” Nesta asked, “I mean besides the fact that we confused your hottie with another.”

            “Lucien cornered me when we got separated.”

            “Oh,”

            “Yeah ‘oh’, he pretty much knew everything. He thinks I’m a horrible person now.”

            “Hey according to Mor, Lucien’s the elusive one and you got him to kiss you. So it’s good to know that you do have some sensual powers after all.” Elain wanted to laugh at that, but the aching in her heart wouldn’t allow it.

            The whole ride home they were silent. And as Elain laid in her bedroom that night she couldn’t help but feel vulnerable, shaken by the change in his eyes that night. She couldn’t get that damned picture out of her mind, how much she had hurt him without even realizing it. Why did she care? _Why did she care??_

            “I have to go and apologize to him,” Elain said the next morning. They were all three piled around the table eating their breakfast.

            Nesta and Feyre looked up from their plates, “To Lucien?” Nesta said. Elain nodded, “What for?”

            “Well… I used him.”

            “So what? You flirted with him a few times because you thought he was his man whore of a brother? Not harm no foul.”

            “You’re just so nice Elain,” Feyre said taking another bite of her cereal.

            “He at least deserves an explanation. I kind of just denied everything and ran like a bloody coward. I owe him the truth, the whole truth.”

            Nesta shrugged and went back to eating. “You don’t owe him anything Elain,” she said almost too harshly.

            But she still needed to see him again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

            Elain was trying to shake everything that happened off, quite literally. She was doing her morning job around the on campus quad, Taylor Swift blaring through her ear buds. She thought it would make her feel better but she couldn’t quite shake the guilt. She knew she had nothing to be guilty about, Nesta told her that much, but somehow she couldn’t help but feel like she had deceived Lucien.

            As she entered her apartment, fresh sweat dripping from her brow she found her sister almost covered completely in paint. “Hey there,”

            “Hey, how was your run?” Feyre said, her hair now streaked with shades of blue and pink.

            “Brutal,” Elain sighed plopping herself down on the couch so she could stare at the painting Feyre had conjured. “Its my own fault, it’s karma from my week long food binge. You know I stress eat during exams, Botany really kicked my butt.”

            “You should just major in studio arts.” Feyre said, her paintbrush stroking a star over a large mountain.

            Elain gave her sister her strongest death glare, “We can’t all be artistic geniuses Feyre!”

            “Thanks,” she said passing her sister a small smile, “I hope my work ends up in galleries someday not in a storage facility.”

            “As if, I wouldn’t let that happen.” Nesta said entering the living room from her room.

            “It’s nice to know I’ll have two people attend my art galas.”

            “So,” Nesta said, “What are our plans tonight?”

            “I’m all yours tonight,” Feyre smiled, “Tam has a project to work on with his friend Ianthe.”

            “Yes!” Nesta exclaimed, “Lets go out, just the three of us. Maybe we could try that new Thai place we’ve seen.”

            “I want to go back to Illyria,” Elain suddenly said.

            Nesta and Feyre exchanged looks before hesitantly looking at Elain. She knew Nesta had filled Feyre in on all the other details from the previous night by how she bit her lip. Elain was still stinging with embarrassment.

            “You want to go back?” Feyre said, “Are you sure?”

            Elain looked back at Nesta who was giving her a glare that was silencing reminding her that she didn’t owe him anything. But Elain didn’t want him to think that she was just like every other girl who walked into Illyria and heard the rumors about Rhys. That’s what stung the most, that he thought she was special, different. And now he didn’t think there was anything special about her anymore.

            As she nodded Nesta was the first to speak, “Then we’ll go. What are you going to wear?”

            “Something hot,” Feyre said hopping up, elain wanted to laugh at that. Her sister’s utter eagerness to play dress up with her. “We’ll make him regret that he ever pushed our Elain away.”

            “He didn’t push me, I ran.”

            “I think the problem was that his ego was boosted, you thought he was his brother.” Feyre said.

            Nesta chortled, “Ok yeah, but so what? She pursued him to increase her sexual prowess, what guy isn’t up for a nostrings attached hookup?”

            Elain sat down at her vanity as Feyre began running a brush through her hair. Nesta immediately went to her closet. And suddenly Feyre felt like completely changing the mood. “You know Elain… The world won’t end if you and Graysen don’t end up together.”

            “I want Graysen, I always have.” The stability, the perfection it was all that she ever wanted.

            “What you want isn’t always what you need.”

            “You sound like a fortune cookie,” Elain snorted.

            “I just don’t get it, why Graysen?”

            “Why Tamlin?” Elain retorted. She wished she could have taken the words back as soon as she saw how stiff Feyre had gotten.

            “Tam and I have been dating since high school.” Was all she said, and neither Elain nor Nesta decided to press further. What did they know about relationships? None of them had really dated. “Now hurry up and change,” Nesta handed Elain her outfit, “We’re gonna break some hearts tonight.”

            Elain just hoped it wouldn’t be hers.

            Illyria was its usual packed watering hole for a weekend night. A flood of guys and girls stood around the bar, a group of frat guys playing a game of pool, and girls trying to score with the steamy bartenders.

            “What’s your plan?” Nesta asked.

            Elain took a deep breath, her knuckles stark white, “No point in delaying it. Just walk right up to him, better get this shit over with.”

            “Wow,” Nesta looked taken aback, “That’s pretty direct, not exactly you.”

            “She’s right,” Feyre shrugged, “no point in delaying it,”

            Pursing her lips Elain gathered all of the strength and confidence she could muster, “I can handle this from here guys,” Each of her sisters patted her back gently and then went to go find an open booth.

           Slowly but surely Elain approached the bar. She stood patiently, nervously anticipating his reaction as she watched him pour a pitcher, his back to her. She watched the dark fabric of his t-shirt go taut and loose at the movement of his muscles. When he turned around his eyes found hers, he stilled but only for a moment his hazel eyes adjusting to her image. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

            Elain swallowed and licked her lips, not exactly enjoying the publication of this conversation, “I wanted to see you,” was all she could think of saying.

            He ran a hand through his thick red hair, “Funny, because the last time you were here you ran off like I was on fire.” He turned and handed off the pitcher to some other girl and collected the change. The girl looked Elain up and down like she was gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe.

            “That wasn’t exactly a conversation,” Elain quipped as he returned to stand in front of her. He tilted his head in confusion, “It was more like an interrogation.”

            “Call it whatever you want, I know exactly who you are now Nice Girl,” whatever smile that was singed on the edge of his mouth frustrated her.

            “You don’t know me,” she said sounding more hurt that she actually was.

            “I think I do,” he said his eyebrows furrowing, “Spoiled college girl who didn’t like what she was hearing so she ran away.”

            Ok, so he was calling her a coward. Fine. But she was not spoiled, far from it. But a small cruel voice whispered in her earr; _but isn’t that what you do? Run away, at least that’s what you’ve been doing since dad ran off._ Her eyes burned from the mirage of cruel thoughts. She sucked in a breath, her knuckles returning to a normal color, “I came here to apologize.”

            Well. That seemed to have gotten his attention. He stared at her for a long moment, his arms crossed to ward off any customers or fellow employees. “I’m listening.”

            She twisted her fingers around the edge of the bar. “I had heard the rumors about your brother. I didn’t have much of a description other than the fact that he was the bartender here… and I just assumed it was you on the first night. After you helped me with my car a few nights before I wanted it to be you.” She looked up at him, his expression unchanged, “I wanted it to be you so bad.”

            Shaking off her confession, she ran a hand through her hair, “It was dumb, so incredibly stupid… I came here looking for…” her heart was hammering, she couldn’t say it. It was too mortifying to say in such a public place.

            He readjusted his arms, re-crossing them as if he was waiting for her to finish.

            “I-” her words caught in her throat, no she had to continue. This is what she came here to do. “There’s this guy I’ve like for a long time and I’m not exactly… experienced per say. So I thought that if I gained some it would help get him to notice me. Mor said I needed to learn from someone who knew what they were doing, that’s how Rhys came into the conversation.”

            His face revealed nothing even though her confession sounded just as bad as she thought it would. He was like some stone-faced emissary staring down at the enemies messenger. And then he spoke, “So you came here looking for a fuck buddy?”

            Elain felt her cheeks burn bright red, especially when one of the other bartenders twirled toward them, “Sweet,” he smiled a catlike grin.

“What! N-n-no!” Elain exclaimed.

            Lucien shoved the bartender away, “Shut the hell up Cass.” The other bartender let out a howl of laughter as he walked to another customer.

            She took another deep breath, there she had done it. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

            Turning around, she instantly caught an image of Feyre and Nesta sitting at a booth. Their friend Tarquin was making eyes as Feyre talked to him. She just wanted to go home, the embarrassment that nestled in her stomach hadn’t disappeared like she hoped. Hopefully by the next day she wouldn’t feel it at all.

            Then Feyre spotted her and started waving. Her sister’s eyes filled with questions, she obviously didn’t notice or care about the man working so hard for her attention. As Elain began to explain what happened with Lucien, Nesta’s eyes shifted over her shoulder her eyes growing bigger.

            Elain turned around just as Lucien reached her, his hand coiling around her own. She opened her mouth and closed it, how had she become so speechless? His strong fingers wrapped so tightly against hers, his eyes scanning her face made her squirm.

            Without a word, he turned, pulling her alongside him.

            “Where are we going?” she shouted. He didn’t respond but she knew he could hear her regardless of the loud noises that filled Illyria. Lucien didn’t even glance behind him but his fingers shifted around hers even tighter.

            Then a horrible thought seized her, “Are you kicking me out?” He worked there, his brother owned the whole bar for heavens sake. He could do whatever he wanted to her. They reached the counter, the bartender from before (Cassian? She couldn’t remember his name) was standing over a small girl sitting on top of a barrel. Her silver eyes met Lucien’s.

            “Amren’s in charge.” Lucien said.

            “Are you kidding me man?” Cassian whined.

            The dark haired girl looked over the man that towered her, “If we left you in charge the bar would be in complete shambles.”

            Cassian rolling his eyes was the last thing Elain saw before Lucien pulled her into the back house of the restaurant. They bypassed an office and squeezed through the kitchen. He finally stopped in front of a pantry door, pulling a key out he unlocked the door. A stairway stretched above them as Lucien pulled her and the door closed behind him.

            Her heart raced as she stared up at the steps inside the mystery pantry. He pulled her up, his warm fingers still wrapped around hers. The stairs led to a wide-open studio apartment. It was simply decorated with a bookcase and a few photos cluttering the walls. Her eyes darted toward the bed in the far corner, what was she even doing here?

            He finally let go of her hand and sat down on the couch in the middle of the apartment, he began unlacing his shoes. “You live here?” was all she managed to ask, not _‘what the hell am I doing up here????’_

            “Yeah,” great, another monosyllable was just what she wanted.

            “Just you?”

            He shot her a look as his boots thudded on the floor, “I own the place.”

            Elain’s eyes widened, “I thought Rhys owned the place.”

            “We both do. Technically five people own this bar, Cassian and Amren who you just met and our friend Azriel too.”

            “Oh,” Elain nodded. She didn’t know why but that suddenly changed everything. She buried her hands in her pockets and waited for him to say something else, anything at all.

            He stood back up in one fluid motion. He moved like a swift fox and she was a small doe eyed creature he was hungry enough to eat. His eyes…. Glowed as they fixated on her. Lucien stopped before her, leaving only inches apart.

            The air left her lungs and she couldn’t find the strength to draw it back in. Her eyes shifted from his to his chest. That was a mistake. Because now all she could think about how lean and muscular his chest was. And then his hands were on her face, forcing her eyes to look back up at him. His palms on her cheeks, his fingers threaded in her hair, like he had locked himself in place and threw away the key. She saw a flash of his russet eyes and then his lips descended on hers.

            His mouth pressed hard against hers, she gasped as she felt his tongue graze her bottom lip. Taking full advantage of that he filled her mouth with his taste, allowing him to leave no part of her mouth unfilled. She leaned forward, melting into him as her hands gripped the sides of his shoulders. Sensation overwhelmed her as she became completely boneless.

            Elain broke for air, “Wait, please.” Her eyes dashed to the stairs and then to the window as she contemplated her escape methods.

            “What?” he panted tugging her slightly closer to him. His voice was steady, strong, but his hands still cradled her face.

            She fought desperately against those dark cravings that Mor had warned her about. Ignoring his eyes, she scanned over the apartment again until her eyes lingered on the bed. And it stayed on the bed.

            He must have read the anxiety in her eyes as he flexed his hands on her face. Her gaze flew back to his as he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips again. “Don’t worry,” he whispered in her ear, “I don’t do virgins.”

            And then he was kissing her again, just as hard and hot as before. His teeth catching her bottom lip, his hands diving through her hair.

            Only two thoughts crossed Elain’s mind.

  1. Was it really that obvious that she was a virgin?
  2. And why would he bother with her if there was no sex in it for him?



Well all of that quickly evaporated as the kiss continued. They kissed for a long time, his tongue exploring her mouth until she mustered enough confidence to retaliate. When her tongue touched the tip of his he let out an approving growl and gripped her hair harder. In one move, he lifted her off of the ground and carried her across the room. Her arm coiled around his shoulders until he set her back on the ground.

His own grip loosened and then disappeared.

She bit back a moan of disappointment as he sat down on the edge of his bed. The russet colored eyes gazing at her own, deciding to act Elain stepped forward. Lucien shook his head as she positioned her body between his legs. “Take off your clothes.” He said.

“Excuse me?” she said some foreign noise threatening to spill from her throat.

He angled his face to one side, smirking at her, “You said you wanted to learn foreplay. Isn’t that why you came here looking for my brother?”

Her face heated at the reminder.

“Well, you got me,” he sighed as if he was somehow second best. And for that, Elain felt her heart begin to break for him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

“Well,” He said, “You’ve got me,” he sighed as if he were somehow second best. And for that, Elain felt her heart begin to break for him which was ridiculous. Yeah, Rhys was incredibly attractive no doubt about it, but he was a different type of good looking. Rhys had that sexy flirtatious thing going for him while Lucien was silver-tongued and calculating.

Whatever pain that was in his eyes vanished as he nodded toward her, “Now take off your clothes.”

Elain gaped at him, if he hadn’t claimed that he didn’t ‘do virgin’s then she probably would be running for the door. Well regardless of that she should have. She bit her lip as she fiddled with her fingers, his eyes watching her every move. “Isn’t that kind of skipping the foreplay and going right at it?”

He smirked up at her, “Aren’t I the one with the experience?” he chuckled at the scowl she gave him, “Are you going to trust me?”

It was her turn this time to look him over. He was sprawled across the bed like picking up virgins from his bar was a regular activity. Elain certainly didn’t think he had done anything like this before, but jealousy began to creep up inside her. She didn’t want to know if he had done this before, she didn’t even want to know how he became so ‘experienced’.

“Well, should I trust you?” she tried to sound assertive but it just came out catty.

He leaned up from his position, “We’re not going to do anything you don’t want to,” he explained letting the edge of his fingers grace her own. “Taking off your clothes… looking extremely sexy while doing that.” He smiled, “Isn’t that why you came here? To look sexy for a guy, a particular guy?”

Graysen.

That’s why she was here, the name sounded almost foreign to her.

So she nodded, “Good,” he said, “Then what are you waiting for?”

That was the question exactly, Elain licked her lips before biting down her nerves really were getting the best of her.

“Here,” he leaned up even further, almost at a sitting position, “I’ll go first.” Elain nearly wanted to roll her eyes at him, like guys like him were uncomfortable taking their clothes off. She was glad she had decided against rolling her eyes, looking away from him as he lifted his shirt over his head would have been a sin. In one swift pull his shirt was off and tossed to the floor.

An invisible string pulled at her heart, her lungs refusing to fill with any air as she gaped at him. His body was definitely toned, but not quite as she had pictured. She had imagined it smooth, like fresh marble almost. What Elain didn’t think was that he would have multiple scars to match the one on his eye. Rage tore at her to think of what horrible person could have done that to him. The rage dissipated as her eyes roamed over his body some more, taking in every crease and every toned surface.

“That’s just ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath.

She immediately regretted the words when she saw his grin, “Well, lesson number 1, don’t call a guy’s body ‘ridiculous’ the first time you see him. It might give him a complex.”

_Well that’s ridiculous too,_ Elain thought, she couldn’t imagine Lucien ever having a complex. But still, she couldn’t stop ogling at him, she was surprised that drool hadn’t begun to form at the corner of her mouth.

“Hey we made a deal, match for match. Now it’s your turn, if you’re done staring that is.” He joked.

Elain’s eyes moved from his body to his eyes again, “I don’t know if that’ll ever happen.” She watched him swallow as his chest rose from her declaration. Despite the boldness of it and the effect it seemed to have on him she still wanted to hide her face in shame. She never spoke or even thought that way, but Lucien had some sort of effect on her.

“You’re giving me a complex Elain,” smirked at the sound of his voice, darker, huskier than it had been moments ago. His eyes looked different too, bright as embers with the same intensity of an open flame. Much different from the autumn eyes he usually bore.

She took a deep breath, _I can do this,_ she thought as she lifted the hem of her sweater over her head. She was thanking God that Feyre had made her wear the bra she was wearing, light blue with white lace trimming the sides not her usual white cotton one. His gaze crawled over her, assessed her body but she couldn’t help but feel a little sheepish. Which was ridiculous she thought, there would be girls at the pool in skimpier bikinis than what she was wearing.

“Nice,” he finally said, his eyes still looking at her.

“Thanks,” she said biting her lips.

“Please don’t stand there like you’re in front of a firing squad.” He scooted towards the edge of his bed, reaching out for her. The sound of his voice, the gentle gestures eased her worries as she took his hand. His fingers hugged her waist as he pulled her to stand in-between his legs. The closeness of their bodies caused for her to drink in the look of his body again. Seriously, this guy should never wear a shirt… well scratch that he would probably cause a riot.

The closeness and the eye ogling had made Elain thankful, and yet somewhat disappointed that he had cut her strip tease short. That was until he said, “Keep going,”

“What?” she nearly whined.

“As pretty as this blue is against your skin,” he complimented letting one of his fingers slide underneath the strap, “I want to see you take it off,”

Great, so he wasn’t letting her off of the hook. Why did they have to dive into the deep end? Couldn’t they have stayed in the shallow in and use floaties or something? She really didn’t know if she could do this with their bodies so close to each other, his heat literally raidiating on her.

“Stop that,” her eyes flickered up to his, “You’re thinking too much, don’t do that.”

“Is this what you do with all of the girls you plan on sleeping with?” She wanted to say something that would lighten up the mood.

“This is what I’m doing with you,” his hands settled themselves on her hips, his fingerprints burning holes through her jeans.

Quickly, she popped the two latches on the back of her bra as she held the front of it up. She swallowed quickly, trying not to think, as they stared into each other’s eyes. His fingers reached up and lifted the straps off of her shoulders until the fell before her own hands fell at her side, leaving her bra tossed on the floor. His stare rolled over her as she realized this was the most exposed she had ever been. Elain didn’t even let her sisters help her in changing rooms when they went shopping. She was _that_ girl who was too nervous to get naked even in front of other girls.

His hands settled on her rib cage, and while he wasn’t he might as well have been touching her breasts. He drew her in slowly and before she knew it her back met the cool sheets on the mattress. “You’re beautiful Elain,” Lucien whispered, “Someone as beautiful as you are shouldn’t be so embarrassed by her body.”

Her breath caught in her throat, no one had ever said anything like that to her. Something so genuine and caring.

Lucien pressed himself closer to her, his hot breath dancing against her neck as he whispered in her ear, “Relax,” he said, “You’re supposed to be enjoying this.”

“A-Alright,” ok it wasn’t her finest hour, but she was trying to be more confident.

“Rigid and afraid isn’t exactly a turn on,”

Elain let out a burst of nervous laughter, “Am I not turning you on then?”

He chuckled alongside her, “Oh don’t worry about that, I’m definitely turned on. I’m just saying that other guys might not like it, they want a girl who’s more responsive.”

Another guy? Someone else, she couldn’t think of anyone else but Lucien right now. Lucien was here, not Graysen, so how could she be thinking about anyone else but him? She sighed as she felt his mouth press against the nape of her neck. He dragged his mouth alongside her neck, she squirmed beneath him wondering what he was going to do next. “He wants you to be just as turned on as he is,”

She chuckled at the tickle she felt in her ear, her nerves disappearing, “Is that what you’re doing?” she asked, “Turning me on?”

“You tell me,” he said before biting down on the sensitive part of her next. As the cry reverberated from her lips his hands reached up to palm her breast. As she arched off of the bed and into his touch he made a deep growl of approval. “You feel amazing,” he said her hands reaching up to grab his shoulders, her nervousness now almost completely gone.

His mouth found hers in desperation and she kissed him back, her earlier uncertainties no longer present. His tongue continued its earlier exploration inside her mouth as his hand continued palming her breast, teasing her nipples causing choke, her nails to dig deeper into his muscles.

And then suddenly, her phone went off. She stiffened, Lucien on the other hand pretended like he didn’t hear it. The ringtone died after a few minutes and Elain forgot to even question who was calling her at such an hour even though it was a pretty easy guess.

The phone vibrated in her pocket once, twice, four times before Lucien jerked up, “They’re not going to stop,” he sounded annoyed as he reached into the pack pocket of her jeans to retrieve her phone.

When he pulled her phone free, she had expected him to hand it over not start typing whoever was trying to contact her. After a moment he threw her phone above her head, “What did you say to them??”

His lips were so dangerously close to hers again, “I told them that you’re staying with me tonight.”

Oh my God, the statement sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. The thrilling sensation only magnified as his mouth covered hers again. She wondered if the feeling of his body between her legs should feel so right, like they were meant to be there. If that was how it felt with everyone. His hands fell on her waist band, slipping his fingers inside.

As amazing as the jolt she felt, her hand reached down to cover his wrists and gave a slight pull.

He obeyed placing his hands back on her back. She felt a surge of power over come her, he had been telling her the truth; they weren’t going to do anything she didn’t want to. She could do anything she wanted to, touch him, kiss him, press her body closer to his and he still wouldn’t ask for more than she gave.

All the remaining senses of reservations she had disappeared and her hands plunged into his hair. It felt like red silk against her palms, she outlined the shape of his skull and felt the soft skin that grew at the nape of his neck. When her hands grew roots in his hair she deepened their kiss, he groaned in approval, “I love your hands on me sweetheart,”

She liked the feel of him too, his broad shoulders, his silky hair, the muscles that wouldn’t budge at her touch. She liked it all.

“Fuck,” he managed against her lips, “You’re so sweet,” He moved his hands under her butt, grinding against her. The hardness she felt against her caused a nauseating ache to form deep within her. She gasped harshly, his own breathing ragged in her ear.

He removed his hand and placed it between them, rubbing the space between her thighs. She cried out, lifting her hips into his strokes. The pressure increased as his palm drew in on a part of her body she didn’t even know existed. She clutched his arms, trembling beneath him. “Oh my God,” she ground out, her teeth biting her lip. He was making her come, and with her jeans still on her!

“It’s ok,” he rasped in her ear, “I want to hear you,”

She cried out sharply, letting a sound she didn’t even recognize as her own come out of her. A low chuckle brushed against her neck, a low and unbearable ache ruptured inside of her and she closed her eyes, her toes curling. Shudders rolled over her like a rough storm, her nails still imbedded in his shoulders. She was helpless once again, limp and helpless.

He was panting too as he lowered himself back down, spooning her with his larger body. He was still hard, she felt it against her back which reminded her that he hadn’t even found his own release. The delicious sensations she had just experienced began to float away and the awkward part crept in. What did one say after her first orgasm? Could I have another please??

Lucien got up from the bed after a moment, she watched as he flicked off the light switch before he strode over again. She didn’t know how to describe how he looked, like the storm she waged had caught him too.

The darkness rolled over the room, she jumped a little when she felt a quilt being draped over her shoulders she scowled as she heard a chuckle rumble in his chest. “I didn’t see you,” she said.

He chuckled again, lifting the blanket up and slipping in beside her, “Good night Elain,” he said pulling her back into his body again.

“Good night Lucien,” she nuzzled into the arm he had draped under her, the action felt so natural maybe far more intimate than what they had just done. After a few minutes his breathing became even, she didn’t think she was ever going to fall asleep until she woke the next morning with her legs tangled with someone else’s. A definite first.

Her face burned as well as other various parts of her body as the memories from the previous night began to flood her mind. The strong, warm body pressed against hers was completely foreign to her. She had never had that type of intimacy with anyone. She rolled over to see if he was awake. The light coming from the one window in the apartment shined dimly against his face.

Elain itched to reach out and touch his face. He looked so much younger, more peaceful than he did during the day. Maybe his dreams were the one place where the horrors of reality couldn’t touch him. She took a deep breath and caught the smell of sage and sea salt, the musky aroma that surrounded him and his bed. His scent. She knew his scent. No no, he was not supposed to be important. She was not about to allow herself to be swept up in this ridiculous scenario she was beginning to cook up in her head. Graysen was her happy ending, he was her security, she maybe even loved him. But she couldn’t help feel like all of that was some lie she had been telling herself as she felt the urge to reach out, to touch him, to be closer to him.

Suppressing the urge to touch him and feeling the sheer feeling of panic over whelm her she untangled her legs from his own. She found her top and her bra within thirty seconds and watched him like a fox as she dressed herself. Her heart beat sporadically as she fastened her last boot on, sure he was going to wake up and find her sneaking out. She retrieved her phone from the bed and looked down at his sleeping form again. Very lightly she pulled the quilt over his shoulders, kissing his cheek before leaving the apartment.

She had called Feyre to pick her up, she leaned against the door of Illyria feeling a sense of relief that he hadn’t woke rush over her. Then another feeling started to bubble and fizz in her stomach, it somehow felt wrong to leave him. Like she was tossing him aside like he wasn’t any good for her anymore. She tried to remind herself that it was ok for her to do this, one night stands happened all of the time and Lucien would be grateful that she hadn’t stuck around in the morning to have an awkward conversation. He wouldn’t have to be worried about her falling in love with him and clinging to him like a wild obsessive girl who got a taste of what she liked.

If she had indeed stayed, what would she have said? She couldn’t imagine waking beside him, that smirk plastered on his face when she rolled over to see him. No. She frowned thinking about the whole ordeal, what had he gotten in their arrangement? He didn’t even…

She laughed not even being able to finish her thought, which just proved to her how innocent and virginlike she still was.

Elain winced as she saw Feyre’s car pull around, was she just lying to make herself feel better? Probably.

The very instant Elain plopped into the passenger side Feyre pelted her with questions. She hadn’t even bothered to change out of her pajamas, let alone fix her hair. “I’ll tell you when we get home,” Elain grumbled, leaning against the window of her car, “I just have to think about some things first.”

Feyre’s eyes widened, Elain was a morning person. She was a happy person. She didn’t grumble at anyone and yet here she was disproving all of those facts about herself. Feyre couldn’t help but wonder even more now what had happened to her older sister the night before.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey babes I’m back!!! YEEE!!! So sorry it’s been FAR too long since I updated. I just had to do recruitment with my sorority and then I had my first couple of weeks of classes while also juggling a promotion at my job. So it’s safe to say that hopefully I’ll be able to update sooner. I hope you guys like it, as always I appreciate all reviews, favs and follows.

Love,

T

 

 

 

Chapter 8:

“Nesta!” Feyre yelled from the front door, “She’s back!”

Nesta leaned against her bedroom doorframe in nothing but an oversized t-shirt, probably a gift from one of her former nightly companions. “Never thought I’d see the day where you’d come in at 7am from a hookup. You do the walk of shame perfectly by the way,”

Elain held up her hand, “Don’t.” But Feyre was already in the kitchen pulling out pans and measuring cups. “Feyre what are you doing?”

“I feel like we should celebrate, I’m going to make that french toast that you like!”

“It’s not my birthday.” Elain threw her purse down on the couch and sunk into the cushions.

“Uhhhh, it kinda is.” Nesta said following her sister into the living room. She bit the inside of her jaw while looking at Elain, her eyes scanning her whole body as if there was a bruise or scratch to find. Elain was a morning person, why the hell was she acting so cranky? “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Which means you’re not.” Nesta chuckled sitting beside her.

“Nesta she’s fine,” Feyre said as she cracked a couple of eggs into a bowl, “She was worried last night about that text. He sent it right?” Elain nodded, “God that was so hot.”

“Well spill it Elain, how was he?”

“It was,” her voice trailed off. Suddenly she wasn’t in the mood for sharing, it felt weird. In her previous ‘no base’ coverage of life he had covered all three in one night… which was something to celebrate. He was a hookup, she wasn’t supposed to feel uncomfortable sharing because he meant nothing to her. Lucien… us… well there wasn’t an us. “He was… nice. Very nice.” Elain said putting it delicately.

“Nice?” Feyre raised her eye brow dipping the bread onto the pan.

“Mhm,” Elain nodded.

“Sorry,” Feyre ran her fingers through her hair, “Didn’t know it’d be that bad.”

“What! No!” Elain exclaimed, “It wasn’t like that, he was fantastic he was…” She didn’t know why she allowed her words to trail off again. She had always been good at forming her words but with Lucien, the words just didn’t seem to come as easily.

“Nice is code-word for bad, so just come on spill it.” Nesta said pushing her sister’s shoulder.

“Nesta, she obviously doesn’t want to.” Feyre finally said sounding a little annoyed.

“Let’s just say a more experienced woman stands before you.” Elain said hoping that would be enough for her nosy sisters.

“Fine,” Nesta blew from her nose, “Can you at least tell us if you’re going to see him again?” Now that was something Elain really hadn’t thought about. Was she going to see him again? Did she even want to, well of course she did. “Uh… I’m not sure,”

“You don’t know?” Nesta’s brows furrowed as the fire came from her mouth. “Don’t tell me he gave you the brush off this morning.” Elain almost wanted to laugh at that, if that had been the case she knew Nesta would be marching herself into Illyria right now in order to give Lucien a piece of her mind. But that’s not what happened.

Elain shrugged, “He might have still been sleeping when I slipped out…”

“What?” Nesta said, “Don’t tell me he’s waking up to an empty bed.”

“Yeah, is that wrong?”

The two sister’s shared a look, “Yeah, that’s kinda harsh Elain…” Feyre walked over to the living room with the plates of french toast in her hand.

“Why is that a bad thing?” he was just a hook up. He didn’t mean anything.

“Not even a goodbye?” Nesta said. This almost infuriated Elain, her sister spent every weekend with a different guy. Who was she to judge her? “I just didn’t take you for a use-them and lose-them kinda girl.”

“It wasn’t like that!” Elain snapped her face turning red.

“That’s what he’s going to think when he wakes up.” Feyre said. As the sisters ate she contemplated what the chances were that he was still asleep. She wondered if she could convince Feyre to drive her back over to Illyria… to make things right with Lucien. Despite the face that he was a hook up, she still cared about it.

“It’ll be fine,” Feyre said, “He’s a guy. He probably won’t think twice about it.”

Shaking her head Elain headed for her room, “I’ve got to take a shower.”

“Hey Elain,” Nesta said. “Even if he does wake up insulted, it’s ok. Let the guy feel abused for once.” Even Elain snorted at the joke before disappearing into her room.

////

It was almost one o’clock in the morning when Elain was driving home from the O’Malley’s. Driving down the rural road she couldn’t help but think of Lucien and the night he had helped her when her car died. She glanced down at her beeping phone, seeing it was Mor she answered. The loud music and voices instantly blared into her ear, “Hello?” she shouted.

“Are you done yet?” Mor’s voice slurred on the other end, “You work too much,” she whined.

Elain chuckled, “Yeah I’m on my way home now.”

She heard the sound of Mor’s hand slamming on the bar or the table of wherever she was, “Come meet me! I’m with Nesta!”

“Nah it’s ok, I just want to go home. Long day.”

“LAME,” Mor shouted and then went into a fit of giggles, “You-know-who is here!”

All at once her chest seemed to squeeze, “That’s ok,” Elain’s hands clenched the steering wheel, “I’m really-”

“He looks gooooOOOOOD tonight too. And you should see the painted whore throwing herself at him.” Elain almost chuckled at the image of Mor rolling her eyes, “You’ve got to come here now and claim your man!”

“Is Nesta driving?” Elain didn’t really want to delve into the fact that he wasn’t her man, at least while Mor was under the influence.

“Yes Mom she’s as dry as a whistle. Left her I.D at home.”

“Ok well I’m sure I’ll see you guys when you get in. Be good,” Elain said before hanging up the phone. Then before she knew it, without any clear objective, she found herself driving to Illyria.

The bar was as crowded as it usually was, though since it was nearly past two the place was starting to clear out. She glanced down at her phone and saw it was thirty minutes until they closed, they had probably just announced last call. It was probably pointless to go but there she was looking completely out of place. Her old blue jeans and baggy Prythian U sweatshirt, which had an applesauce stain no thanks to the O’Malley girls. Elain ran her fingers through her hair, which was tied up in a messy bun. Yes, so far out of place.

Her face was makeup free and she didn’t really care. She didn’t come there to impress anybody, but then again she couldn’t exactly admit she was there for Mor either. She loved the girl to death but she just wasn’t up for partying with her and her sister. No. She just wanted to see him. He didn’t have to see her, but she just wanted to see him.

After a few minutes of searching, Elain found Mor snuggled up between two guys at the bar. She wore a teal sequined dress and had her hair pinned back with a black stone. She flung her arms out and squealed when she saw Elain walking across the room.

“God you are SUCH a sappy drunk,” Nesta grumbled from behind them.

Mor turned around almost too quickly and pointed at Nesta, “I am not drunk.”

“Yeah,” Nesta nodded toward her sister, “She’s definitely had a few.”

Without expecting it Mor pulled Elain close, draping her arms around her neck, “Now listen here’s the plan.” Her nostrils flared at the smell of Jack Daniels on her friend’s breath, “I just saw him over by the bar.”

“Shhhhhh!” Elain shrugged her off. Bring drunk had the tendency to make Mor louder, and with the crowd of Illyria diminishing she wanted to keep her presence as unknown as possible.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on him for you,” Mor winked, “There’s some painted whore around here that’s just waiting for him to close up. See if she’ll get lucky, I wanted to take care of this for you but the Warden over here wouldn’t hold my earrings for me.”

“I think it’s time we headed home,” Elain said biting her lip, Nesta gave her a nod of approval.

“Awwwwwww,” Mor pouted, “But they want me to stay!” she gestured to the boys behind her.

“I’m sure they do,” Nesta drawled, “Sorry boys she’s coming with us,”

Each of the sisters slid an arm around Mor’s waist and began guiding her across the bar the mostly dried alcohol sticking to the bottom of their shoes. Elain’s gaze slipped to the bar where she found no sight of Lucien. They moved slowly until Mor’s voice jarred Elain’s focus, “Oh! Hey there! Lucien! Look Elain, it’s Lucien.”

Elain’s gaze halted at the sight before her, Lucien staring at them with an empty expression on his face. “Hi,” she cursed herself thinking how dumb he probably thought she was. His gaze skimmed over her, great, the sweatshirt, no makeup, messy hair and applesauce stain was just what she needed right now.

“What are you doing here?” Was all he asked. Not as icy as she expected but still the greeting could have been warmer.

An awkward silence passed between them and despite the continuous flow of people and noise around them they continued to stand there, staring at each other in utter silence.

“I’m-I’m not supposed to be there,” she instantly regretted asking that question. She didn’t want to know if she wasn’t welcome at the bar anymore and she certainly didn’t want him telling her that. The icy tone was enough for her to figure out the answer to her own question.

Instead he crossed his arms over his chest, flexing the biceps that Elain wanted to feel beneath her clenched fingers again. She couldn’t help but turn red at the fact that he knew what she looked like beneath her less than flattering clothes, well at least the top part of her anyway. “If my memory is correct, you were pretty desperate to get out of her last time,” he cocked his head to the side as if to examine her further, “or was it just my bed you were so desperate to get out of?”

Elain sucked in her breath.

“Damn Elain,” Mor exclaimed, “I told you that was harsh…”

Elain turned and glared at her friend, did she really just out her? And did he really just say that?

“Hey it’s okay,” he held his hands up as if she were going to shoot him down, “I knew I was being used, I just didn’t realize I wasn’t worth a goodbye.” The words struck a cord with her because he was worth that. He was worth so much more than that and she had implanted these false ideas in his head. As he tried to walk past her, Elain’s hands reached out an clasped ahold to his wrists, “It wasn’t like that,” she exclaimed while nearly dropping Mor in the process.

He froze, looking down at her. The russet eyes still stung her, the guilt that still harbored her. She turned back to Nesta who now had a stronger hold on Mor, “Don’t worry I’ll get her home, see you later.” She said. As they slandered off Elain heard Mor tell Nesta, “See, told you he looked _good_ tonight.”

Elain glanced back up at him, realizing she still had a strong grip to his wrist. She released him and crossed her arms shortly after running her hands through her hair, “It wasn’t like that.” She repeated.

“So what exactly was it like?” Elain met his hardened expression. She knew she looked pathetic, she could feel the mournful expression on her face as she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry,” he blinked. She had said something he didn’t expect, “I’m so sorry Lucien.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

Elain bit her lip, “I should have said goodbye this morning. I’m not familiar with this whole one-night stand/hookup sort of thing. So I don’t know all of the rules… Point is that it was rude and I should have said goodbye. I’m sorry.” He continued to study her, trying to figure her out. “It wasn’t you,” she wanted to slap herself for still talking. She really never knew when to shut her mouth, “I was just embarrassed, I didn’t take your feelings into account when I should have. Because they were just as important.”

When he still didn’t say anything Elain shuffled in her stance, “Well I just wanted you to know that… goodbye.” She turned and walked away.

But she didn’t make it two steps before she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

“You didn’t mess up,” he said. She looked up at him, his russet eyes almost beaming at her, “I like that you don’t know the rules for hookups.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “You’re not-“ It was his turn to run his hands through his hair, “You’re different and I just didn’t like waking up and you not being there.”

“Oh,” was all Elain could say. Her mind flooded with impossible questions she wanted answered. What would have happened if she had stayed? “What would you have said if I had stayed?” she wondered out loud.

He smirked for the first time since she had seen him that night. He glanced down at the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets, “You’re not ready to here it yet.” Before Elain could interject his hand reached forward and nipped at her sweatshirt, “I like this,”

“My sweatshirt?” she laughed nervously, “I’m wearing applesauce,” Elain pointed to the stain located near her left boob.

“It looks good on you,” he smirked harder.

“Liar.” She said.

“No,” he said pulling her forward by her sweatshirt, “But I bet it would look better on the floor.” Elain swallowed, her cheeks flushed and she realized just how far up shit creek she really was. He could tell her anything if he only looked at her that way, that look was dangerous. Brown eyes with golden swirls were apart of her complete undoing, just as her green ones were the key to his. “I’ll never lie to you Elain,” he whispered.

Elain could have sworn he was going to lean down and kiss her before a hand met his shoulder. They both turned and looked to see Rhys, “Hey, still crashing with you tonight?”

Lucien shook his shoulders, “Yeah,” He grinned, “Just as soon as you’re done busing all those dishes in the kitchen.”

Rhys let out a bark of laughter, “Really? The key investor has to do the dirty work?” His violet eyes danced with laughter as he spotted Elain, “See you later Elain,” he winked before walking into the back house of the bar.

“It’s late,” Lucien turned swiftly back to her as she took a step away, “I better go,”

“I’ll walk you to your car.” He offered immediately.

Elain wanted to roll her eyes but instead she smiled at him, “Do you walk every lone girl that comes into this bar out to her car?” She turned and felt him walk up beside her.

“Okay first of all, most girls don’t leave alone. Secondly, you’re not every girl to me.” She felt the air get sucked out of her lungs, “and I think you know that.”

She couldn’t think of a single thing to say as they walked outside and approached her car. She dabbed her sweaty palms on the thighs of her jeans. “Thanks,” she finally said.

He looked her over for the twentieth time that night, still trying to figure her out. “So Elain, that’s all you came to do here tonight? Apologize?”

“Yes,” she said leaning up against the door of her car. Why did the word come out like a question? And why did he look at her like he didn’t believe her?

Lucien took a step forward, leaning into her body, “Thought you might want to pick up where we left off, take a few notes, pick up some new tips.” He smirked at the sight of her cheeks heating up, her breath caught in her throat.

“What’s left to learn?” At her question he barked with laughter again.

“What!?” Elain laughed, swatting his shoulder with her hands.

“Oh there’s plenty left to learn. You asking that just prove how much there is to learn. But the real question is,” his hands brushed a stray hair from her face, “how far are you willing to go just short of sleeping with me? Which you’re still not up for right?”

“No, I-I can’t. Not that.”

“Okay, just checking don’t be scared.”

Rather than ask him directly Elain nodded to over his shoulder, “Isn’t your brother staying with you tonight?”

Because yes she wanted more, yes she wanted to go farther, yes she didn’t want to say goodbye to him. Not yet at least.

“He is,” Elain exhaled sadly, “Unless you’re inviting me home with you?”

Elain raised her eyebrows, “You want to see my apartment?”

“Unless you have a roommate,” he smirked, “Then things could get awkward.”

She smiled at that, “No we all have our own bedroom. Be warned though, my sister Nesta might rip your balls off in the morning.” He laughed at that too but shrugged, “I guess it’s a risk I’m going to have to take.”

“So…” he said as the silence began to pass over them, “Are you inviting me back to your place?”

“Oh,” she said in a nervous fit of laughter, “I guess I am. Yes. I am.”

He smiled then. A real genuine smile and she melted right there. “Great,” he said, “I’ll follow you.” Lucien began to take a step back before Elain pulled him back, pressing him closer to her. She let her lips brush up against his for a brief moment. He released a shaky breath and she felt relieved to know she wasn’t the only one nervous.

“Perfect,” she said before letting him run around back to grab his car. The butterflies in her stomach were beginning to take flight.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey guys sorry it’s taken me a while. I was kinda busy with school (them midterms destroyed me but Halloween brought me back to life) and the fact that I was writing the sequel to this fanfic (hint hint it’s about our fav Illyrian and a certain Archeon Sista) Anyway I hope you forgive me and enjoy this next chapter!

Chapter 9:  
Elain plopped down in to the driver’s side and pulled down her visor as she stared at the tall figure walking back into Illyria. When he was out of sight, and out of ear’s way she gave a shrill shriek that would likely wake the dead. She found herself staring at her own brown eyes, “Alright Archeon, pull yourself together,” she started, “You’re a big girl now, and you’re the one that invited him over. You’re not doing anything worse than other countless confident single sexually adventurous women are tonight!” She was probably doing less considering the fact that she wasn’t even going to have sex that night.  
The lights of a red Camaro flickered and she saw what appeared to be his silhouette behind her. He followed her down the road, past main street and to her apartment complex. Her eyes kept flickering to the shadow of Lucien’s profile in his own car.  
When she parked she reached for her backpack, already thankful she had gotten almost all of her homework done before going to Illyria. Climbing out of her car he was already waiting for her, his hand half buried in his pocket. “Are you alright leaving the bar?” She suddenly felt compelled to ask.  
“My brothers can get along without me for one night,” he winked at her and then offered to carry her bag upstairs for her, “Are you cold?” he suddenly felt compelled to ask her.  
She shook her head, “It’s just a short walk up.”  
They walked in silence until they reached the elevator. She watched the numbers light up as she waited for the elevator made its way to them. A flutter of girls walked in close behind them, giggling at whatever the other one said until they got an eyeful of the two of them.  
Elain recognized them, they were just girls that were always at Illyria or at other campus parties. She thought that one of them had loaned her a quarter in the laundry room one time. One of them smirked, wide eyed at what they were encountering. The bartender who didn’t give his time to anybody was standing before them, sharing his time with someone who probably wasn’t even worth his time.  
“Hey,” she tilted her head up and locked eyes with him. His russet eyes seemed to question her thoughts, as if he could read them. “You okay?” She nodded her head solemnly as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Lucien glanced around the room and pieced together the reason for her discomfort. When the ding of the elevator arriving on their floor was heard he slipped his arm around her shoulder, ushering her inside.  
The gaggle of girls followed them in and Lucien used the opportunity to pull her close enough so that he could whisper in her ear, “God some things never change,”  
Elain giggled, “I know it’s just like high school,” she said when the other girls left, reaching their own destination.  
“Well,” he sighed, “Some things do. When I was in high school I didn’t spend many nights in the company of a gorgeous woman.”  
“No?” Elain said trying to hide the blush of flattery that was creeping up on her cheeks.  
“No,” he said licking his lips, “That came later.”  
Elain threw her head back in laugher as they got off of the elevator. He smiled back at her, “Oh I’m sure it did,” she said pulling out her keys to unlock the door,  
When the door opened Lucien placed her backpack on one of the chairs in the living room. “My room is the one on the right,” she pointed out for him. He walked over to the door and turned back to see her peaking through the door to a different bedroom. Elain found Mor and Nesta snoring softly with dozens of blankets on top of one another.  
“I just wanted to check on them,” she whispered walking back over to where he was.  
He nodded, “You’re a good person Elain,”  
She smiled and opened the door to her bedroom. She rubbed her palms on her thighs; trying to wipe off the clamminess she felt forming there. Elain turned to brace him, wondering what the first move to be or to find him staring at her. Only he wasn’t. He was studying her room.  
Her bedspread was covered in purple flowers; her entire room was pretty much decorated in flowers. He smiled because did he expect anything less from the future botanist? Lucien took a few steps and stopped at her desk, taking a moment to look at all of the pictures that adorned the surface.  
There was one of all of her sisters, her mother of course from a long time ago and of her and Graysen last summer. He settled on the picture of Elain and her mother. Even though it was her birthday it was her mother who was blowing out the candles. She had been so young when her mother died that she often forgot how beautiful she was. Her hair was so dark, some days it looked black instead of brown. “Is this your mom?” he finally asked.  
“Yeah,” Elain walked over to stand next to him, a small smile forming on her face.  
“You’re really cute here,” he pointed to her cheeky childlike grin in the picture, “Your hair was so blonde then.”  
“I know,” Elain laughed, “My hair used to be so blonde my father used to say that sometime it looked like I was bald!”  
He chuckled, “Well you certainly didn’t get the blonde hair from her.”  
Elain stopped laughing, “No. That would be my dad.”   
Lucien’s eyes flickered around her room again, and back on her desk, “I’m sorry,” he sounded like he was scolding himself. There was a reason that her father’s pictures didn’t grace the top of her desk.  
“It’s alright.” Elain said, “My mom died not long after that picture was taken and well… Dad kinda went off the deep end and my sisters and I looked out for each other after that.” She decided to spare the details to Lucien how Nesta ended up being the one who became their legal guardian after Feyre worked a full time job in high school.  
“I’m the worst mood killer aren’t I?” He reached up to rub the back of his neck.  
“No it’s fine seriously,” Elain said. She wanted to reach out, place her hand on his arm to stop him from rubbing his neck. He had nothing to be embarrassed about.  
Lucien looked down and picked up the last picture, the one of her and Graysen. “Is this him?” he asked trying not to have too much spite in his words.  
“Who?”  
“The guy you’re doing this for.” His eyes didn’t waver from the picture as he asked her.   
Elain blinked, “How did you know?”  
“You’re glowing here,” Was all he said before placing the picture back down on her desk. He turned toward her, his eyes looking at her like he was a lion ready to pounce on his prey. “Tell me about him, that should put you in the mood.” Elain gulped, was he serious?  
“Graysen?” Elain asked, “We’ve known each other forever.”  
Elain sat on the side of her bed; Lucien knelt down and scooted her legs apart. His hands settled on her knees, his grip like fire burning through her denim. He arched and eyebrow, “I’m listening.”  
“He was always just, really nice you know? I knew his sister growing up and she was nice too.” His hands traveled beneath her sweater and settled on the waistband of her jeans. “Go on,”  
“They always made me a part of their family, all I had growing up was my sisters. It was nice to come home to a mom and a dad who actually took care of their kids. Who care about them. You know barbeques, family dinners, and trips to Disney that sort of thing…” she trailed off as his fingers found the button on her jeans and unsnapped them.  
“Uh-huh, keep talking.” He said his eyes never wavering.  
She sucked in a breath, “I had never been to Disney world you know? They went like every year, as a family.” Elain wanted to smack herself, she was just babbling now and about Disney?? Seriously?? He lifted her sweatshirt over her head and in one swift move it hit the floor.  
Sitting pretty much naked in front of him she looked down at her bra to confirm the color. Teal with a white bow placed between her breasts. She looked over at him as he took in the sight of her, his eyes snapping up to meet hers, “You were saying? Disney?”  
“They go there every year, Graysen and his family. They’re…good people.” Elain bit her lip, “Graysen is a good person, he wants to be a doctor.”  
“Sounds like a saint,” Lucien muttered as he unclasped her bra, the straps falling down her arms. She looked up, praying he wasn’t actually a saint. A saint would never look at her the way that Lucien was looking at her, had always looked at her. He made her feel feminine, delicate, like something that should be worshipped.  
His hands flattened against her torso as he back met the cool sheets of her bed. He rose off of his feet and unlaced both of her shoes, each one dropping to the floor with a thud. She was silently thanking God that he didn’t want her to talk about Graysen anymore. It somehow felt wrong to talk about him when they were… in the midst of having relations of their own.   
After her socks joined her boots he hovered over her, letting his elbows fall on either side of her head. He was so close; she didn’t realize her fingers had reached up to trace his face. Lightly, her fingers traced over everything, his square jaw, his cheekbones, the five o’clock shadow that was forming, even the scar that brandished his eye. A flicker of anger swept through her, she wanted to know who did this; who she could punish.  
“As long as you keep looking at him like that he’ll be all yours.” Elain almost didn’t recognize his voice. It wasn’t his normal silvery tone but one whose breath had been taken away.  
“Like what?”  
He lowered himself between her thighs the new weight warming her blood, “Like you want to eat me.” He whispered against her neck.  
“Oh,” she gasped as his head lowered to her collarbone, flourishing her skin with kisses all the way down her breasts. Her fingers didn’t know what to claw, his hair or his shirt. He made the decision for her as he pulled back only to discard his shirt where her own shirt was. He came back down and kissed her hungrily, her tongue brushed against his and he groaned as her tongue swept across his teeth.  
He bit her lip and she moaned, lifting up to press her body even harder against his. Lucien pulled back and stared at her, “Lucien,” she whispered.  
“I want to see all of you,” Before Elain could open her mouth he whispered, “You can trust me.” She nodded, believing him. It wasn’t him she was worried about, but herself. Her own fear.  
He moved quickly, sliding his hands down the lengths of her thighs as he pulled her jeans off. He chuckled, “Now those are hot.”  
Elain looked down to confirm her panty choice of the day. Orange kittens on a pink surface. She groaned, wanting to bury her head deep in the mattress, “Ugh I really need to shop for sexier lingerie.”  
“No,” he said, “Those are hot and I promise they make an impression.” He winked at her before placing a kiss on the seem of her underwear. Soon she was writhing beneath him as he palmed between her legs. Every nerve in her body was going at once and she tried to ignore how embarrassed she felt at the little whimpers that escaped her mouth.  
“Elain,” he whispered, his voice rough and dry, “Let me touch you.” She nodded, her hair flying across the mattress. His hand was inside her panties before she could even blink.   
His fingers slicked through her as her legs parted. She gasped louder than she wanted to when he slipped one of his fingers inside her.   
Elain sat up, arching off the bed as shudders racked through her body. He had found the spot from early and was pressing it with the edge of his palm.   
“So wet,” she hardly heard the whisper when her hands tightened around his shoulder. Lucien buried his mouth in the corner of Elain’s neck as his fingers slipped in and out of her, burying itself deeper than it was before. She cried out, clenching the muscles she didn’t know she had. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, clinging to him as if he were her only form of salvation.  
They stayed like that for an endless moment before Lucien removed his hand from her drawers and fell back against the mattress. He pulled her close to him allowing her to bury her face in his chest. She cuddled closer to him, thankful that it was ok to touch him. To be close to him.  
The euphoria she felt compelled her to ask what had been nagging at her since she found out a bunch of 20 year olds ran a bar. “So has it always just been you and Rhys and the others.”  
She felt his arms tense around her, “it wasn’t always like that. No.”  
“What about lady friends?” she smiled, “The others seem to have their fair share but you don’t give anyone the time of day.”  
Lucien pursed his lips, “There was someone, but she’s gone now.”  
“Oh,” she said.  
“What about your parents? Do they know you run a bar?” she was trying to change the subject. She knew she had hit a soft spot.  
His arms loosened around her and his breathing became deeper, she realized she had asked the wrong questions. “No they don’t. Not that I would like them to anyway.”  
“I’m sorry,” Elain said turning to her side, she placed a hand on his cheek. She wanted to comfort him Damnit.   
“Don’t look at me like that,” Elain blinked, maybe she jumped a little bit at the bite in his words. She had never heard him talk like that, not to her at least. “Don’t look at me with pity, like I’m so noble for living on my own. I left on my own accord when they took her.”  
Elain felt her mouth open. Heard the gasp and felt her hand freeze on his cheek. He pulled away, “I’m the reason she died Elain.” He shoved her off and stood up from the bed, grabbing his shirt from the pile on the floor, “You shouldn’t be wasting your time with me.”  
She watched him wide eyed, “Lucien,” he turned back to her once before leaving her apartment. Elain pulled the cover over her shoulders and snuggled up next to her body pillow, already missing what had just been hers.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Woah has it really been like… 5 months? Sorry friends I have been super busy with school and having two jobs. I also got Vice President of my sorority? So that’s been taking up a lot of time too. But now I have come back and I will finish this and the two other fics I want to write after this one. So stay tuned and have faith in me, your comments about missing this have really warmed my heart so I’ve really been trying to push it out. Love you babes <3

 

Chapter 10:

“Wait,” Feyre said, “He’s the ‘reason she died’? He actually said that?” This was supposed to be a serious conversation but Elain didn’t feel that way, especially at the scene laid before her. Her sister had a large stack of pancakes laid in front of her, completely drenched in maple syrup. With her fork, Feyre cut a slice of sausage and swirled it in the buttery syrup pool on her plate before popping it in her mouth.

Nesta shrugged and sipped her coffee, she wore a pair of electric blue leggings. Their pattern waved out like lightening bolts against her legs. Elain stared at the untouched bowl of cereal in front of her. She had insisted on her sister eating breakfast before her morning jog, but Nesta was less than compliant. “Ugh, how can you eat all of that?” Nesta said to Feyre.

“I eat like this,” Feyre quickly turned her head towards her older sister, “Because I work out five times a week and I don’t get hammered every night.” Feyre then turned her head back toward Elain and took another bite out of her pancakes, “Now. Back to this bartender. Did you ask him what he meant by that?”

Elain blinked, swirling her own pancakes around on her plate. She didn’t necessarily want to tell them what happened. Because this was her least favorite part of the story. “No. He was in a hurry to leave after that declaration, and to be honest, I was kind of in a hurry for him to go too.”

“No joke,” Nesta scoffed, “It’s always the hot ones that are sociopaths.”

“Really!?” Elain exclaimed, finally looking up from her plate, “Always?” Nesta nodded, so she turned to Feyre, “Always.”

Feyre shrugged, “They all seem to be at least damaged. But I don’t think they’re all sociopaths.”

“Well that’s great,” Elain scoffed, “Great that you guys set me up with the hottest guy that you knew was going to be a sociopath!”

“Well what did you expect?” Nesta nearly snapped, “Did you want to hook up with someone quiet who had no skills in the bedroom? The point was for you to gain some more experience.”

The youngest Archeon rolled her eyes and looked at Elain, “Ignore her. She’s just irritated because she’s hungover. Graysen is hot and not damaged. The same can be said about my boyfriend.” Nesta muttered something into her coffee cup that sounded a lot like, “are you sure about that?” to which Feyre shot Nesta a warning look, “Funny.” Was all she said.

“Listen maybe he didn’t mean what he said,” Feyre reached out and grabbed Elain’s hand, “Maybe you just misinterpreted it.”

“Or maybe you didn’t. Maybe he is responsible for this girl dying.” Nesta said.

Feyre glared up at Nesta, “Aren’t you cheerful and optimistic this morning?”

“Well I’m not about to apologize, I don’t want Elain to get hurt and it’s starting to sound like this guy is capable of doing that.”

This time it was Nesta’s turn to roll her eyes and sip from her coffee cup, “I just think she needs to find out what he meant, that’s all I was trying to say.” Feyre said.

A spark of curiosity hit Elain, “Yeah. I want to know,” she said.

“Curiosity killed the cat, Elain,” Nesta said but Elain wasn’t paying attention anymore. They finished their breakfast talking about Feyre and Tamlin, and some guy Nesta had been dating. Some guy named Tomas. After the kitchen had been cleaned, and the dishes put away, Elain gathered her books pretending she was going to go to the library.

It wasn’t a complete lie, she was going to go there after she stopped by Illyria. The entire drive over there she had been filled with equal amounts of curiousity and confidence. But this all disappeared when she arrived.

She stepped into the open space of the main room. Elain didn’t know how to fill. It wasn’t like any other time she had been there. The main room was empty and only a few employees seemed to be lurking about. There was no sign of Lucien at the bar, but she did recognize the girl with silver eyes sitting atop the counter. She seemed to recognize her too, but acted like she didn’t care. “Doe Eyes, what are you doing here?”

“Is Lucien around?”

“Nope. Sick.”

“Sick?”

“Yeah,” She said hopping off of the counter, “Called me this morning and asked if I could cover for him.” She chuckled a little bit, “Apparently I’m the only one, other than him, that can fend off fights in the bar.

“What’s wrong with him?” The pit of her stomach began to twinge with worry.

The little woman with silver eyes shrugged, “I don’t know but he sounded like death on the phone. I’ll kill him if I catch it,” Elain knew she meant it too. “Hope you don’t either,” she chuckled and Elain felt her cheeks warm up. The fact that this employee, or friend of Lucien’s seemed to be under the impression that they were the type of friends that would share a few things, including a virus horrified Elain.

“Thanks,” Elain barely made out, and began to make it back to the door. Slowly, she turned back around to see the small woman occupied with another task. The adventurous side of Feyre came out of her then and she ducked into the kitchen. She thought that she had made herself quite discreet before she ran into another employee. He was the man with long brown hair, it was tired up in a bun and he smelled like aftershave and wings. Cassian, she remembered his name now. He stopped and looked at her with absolute shock before smiling, as if knowing. Elain nodded at him before pulling the latch on the door that lead up to the apartment.

Closing the door behind her, Elain looked up the flight of stairs. She heard minor scuffling around in the kitchen before making her way up there. At the top, she stopped and knocked on the door.

“Who’s there?”

Elain bit her lip before saying, “It’s Elain.”

A low groan met her response as he opened the door. The sight of the bed had memories from the previous time she had been there. “I heard you were sick,” she said with a small smile.

Another groan escaped from his lips as he stepped aside, turning away from her as he walked back toward his bed. She moved to close the door when he said, “Go away.”

Ignoring him, she closed the door behind them, “What’s wrong? Besides the fact that you’re dying?”

“Let’s just say that they toilet and I are suddenly on a first name basis.”

Elain’s face scrunched up as she took that information in, “How often are you throwing up?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know… it’s slowed down a bit.” Without replying, she moved to the fridge. Opening the contents she pulled out a bottle of Gatorade and poured a small class. She walked back over to the bed and set it on the nightstand. When she looked back at him he almost glared at her, “I told you to go away.”

“Here,” she said, “Try it. You can’t get dehydrated.”

He shook his head, “I can’t keep anything down.”

She quirked her mouth to the side, “Maybe you have food poisoning?”

“I ate the same thing as someone else last night and she’s not sick.” She didn’t know why but the green monster of jealous crept up and formed knots in her stomach. It made her feel possessive, she had no claim on him and she certainly didn’t want it.

Setting the glass down on the night stand again she reached her hand out and touched his forehead. It was piping hot against her skin, “You have a fever too.”

“You shouldn’t be here.” This time his voice sounded less spiteful. “You’ll get sick too.”

“I never get sick,” she piped up. “I work at a daycare when I’m not at the flower shop so my immune system has an iron clad contract against diseases.”

“Must be nice,” He leaned back against his headboard, the ghost of a smile tickled on the edge of his mouth. Despite this she frowned at him. She glanced down at her phone, she had to be at work in a couple of hours but it didn’t feel right leaving him this way.

“Do you have a thermometer, so you can check your temperature?”

Lucien cracked his eyes open, “I’m fine. Seriously, you can go. I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’ve been doing it for years.” Then his eyes drifted close again.

She stood there for a moment staring at him. His chest slowly moved up and down, and when his breaths evened out she knew he was asleep again. He still felt hot too. She wasn’t completely unaccustomed to taking care of people, whenever Feyre or Nesta got sick in the apartment she was the one to load them up on chicken noodle soup and cough syrup.

Biting her lip, Elain slowly crept out of the loft and five minutes later she was at the drugstore next door. Reaching for a basket, she began filling it with Tylenol, Jell-O, and a couple cans of soup. She grabbed all of these things in hopes that he could at least keep some of it down. And ten minutes later, she was walking back to Illyria. On her way back in she made eye contact with Cassian who only nodded, and a small smile was shared between them.

When she re-entered the loft, the bed was empty but she could hear him in the bathroom. “Are you alright?”

Several moments passed before he opened the door and stepped back into the living area. “Turns out, the Gatorade… not such a good idea.”

Elain winced, “Sorry.”

His eyes were droopy as he scanned over her, the plastic bags now sitting on the counter.

He flung the towel back into the bathroom with a sharp move. Her gaze drank up the influx of his muscles, how taut his arms and torso was. Even sick as a dog, he looked strong and powerful, sexy as hell. She mentally shook her head because now was most certainly not the time to have such thoughts. Especially with his little admission the other day, she wasn’t sure if she should be making any of those observations anymore.

“You came back,” He finally said standing before her.

“Yeah,” Elain said as she was beginning to unpack all of the plastic bags.

She whipped her head around when she heard him chuckle, “And you went shopping.”

“Yes I did. I just got some things that you needed.” He went to lay back down on the bed but his eyes never left where she was.

He watched her through his droopy as she ripped open the package that held a thermometer. “You bought me a thermometer?” She nodded, “Why are you doing this.”

Elain stopped and shrugged, “I don’t know,” She gazed over at him and locked eyes, “I guess because you need someone.” She moved closer to him and placed a cool rag on his forehead.

It was a simple truth, but the words between them hung in the air. Before moving her hand, Lucien reached out and grasped her wrist. He expelled a heavy breath, and opened his mouth to speak. And then quite suddenly he shut his mouth, as if remembering how sick he was. Too sick to handle her-or anything that was between them. “Thank you,” was all he managed to say before leaning back against the cool pillows and drifting back to sleep.

“Yeah I’m sorry,” she found herself saying to her boss on the phone an hour later. “She’s way too sick.” Elain paused and listened to her manager, “Thanks for understanding, I’ll see you on Saturday.”

Elain hung up the phone, feeling slightly guilty about the last minute call.

“I’m guessing I’m the ‘she’ you were talking about.”

She swung around on the barstool she had been sitting on, “You’re awake!”

He pressed down on the mattress and lifted himself up on the bed. Propping himself back against the pillows that bunched against the headboard and rubbed his eyes, “How long was I asleep?”

“Almost an hour and a half.”

“And I didn’t get sick, that’s one good thing. Maybe I can drink something now.” He glanced to his left and saw that the glass from earlier was missing. He swung his legs over the bed and began to walk over to her.

“Oh no don’t get up.” She grabbed two caplets of Tylenol and handed him another bottle of Gatorade.

He nodded at her, “Thanks. You really didn’t have to miss work for me.”

“Too late- and besides I got some studying done.”

He nodded and eased up to his feet, instantly towering over Elain. He cracked a grin when he hand reached out to stead him. Even if all of that bare inked skin made her pulse jump a little, she still remembered both nights. Both in her apartment and there. “What are you doing?” She said slightly blushing as she lowered her hand. “You need to stay in bed.”

That half grin lifted her spirits even more, “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be okay, Mom.” She stepped back again and blushed even more at the motherly comment. But that didn’t stop her from watching him as he moved toward the bathroom. His strides were less swift than normal, and at the bathroom door he turned toward her, “You can stay if you want to.” He nodded to where her text books were displayed on the living room table, “You can study here.”

Elain nodded as her stomach did a crazy flip. He turned back and shut the door to the bathroom. The sound of the shower turning on came a few moments later. And before returning to her books she quickly changed the sheets on the bed. Something he noticed almost immediately when he walked out, “You changed my sheets?”

He looked almost confused as she replied, “You were sick… I just thought it would be nice if you had some fresh sheets.”

He stared at her solemnly. Like he was trying to figure out. A puzzle piece gone missing, and her smile faded. Because she couldn’t afford to let him figure her out because she hadn’t even figured that out yet. Just when she thought things were getting to where they needed to be, she got a call from Dad telling her how everything went to hell when her mother died. Her dad had never stopped to ask her how she felt, how she was dealing with everything. Other girls dreamed of castles, but she dreamed for a cloak of invisibility.

There was only one irrefutable truth in Elain’s life. Only one thing she knew for sure was going to work. It was Graysen. Graysen was good. Normal. That was the plan.

“Thanks,” he said breaking her away from her thoughts, “For doing this, being here.”

“Want to try and eat something?” she said moving to the kitchen, “I have chicken noodle and Jell-O. I think I saw some crackers in the cabinet.”

“I might be ready for some Jell-O.” Elain took one from the fridge, and handed it to him. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a spoon. As his spoon dipped into the bright red gelatin he looked at her, “Did you eat already?”

She shrugged, “I grabbed a late lunch and snacked on some crackers while you slept so I’m good.”

He took a small spoonful, “They could make you anything you want downstairs, it’s wing night.”

“That’s okay,” she said with a small smile.

He spooned another small bite of strawberry Jell-O into his mouth. The muscles in his jaw feathered as savored the artificial taste. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” He finally admitted, “Why are you here?”

Elain swallowed and rubbed the side of her arm, “After what you said the other night, I’m not surprised you thought that.”

He looked up then, his gaze slicing through her, “So why are you here?”

Alright, so this was how it was going to be. Open and complete honestly. They didn’t care about how blunt they were with the other. So Elain opened her mouth and stood true to that, “What did you mean, when you said that you were the reason that she was dead?”

“Just what I said.”

Lucien looked up and saw the concerned look etched on her face. Not exactly for this woman she didn’t know, but for him. “So… you hurt her deliberately?”

That was when his lips twisted into a harsh smile, “Do you want me to make it sound less wrong? Do you want me to tell you it happened some other way, that I’m some other person? Is that what you want, Elain?”

“No that’s not what I want.”

“Then what do you want?”

“For you to be honest with me!” She shouted. Her words echoed throughout the loft and ended with such harsh silence that you could hear the people downstairs talking.

He pushed himself off of the counter and strolled back over towards his bed, “I’m never going to lie to you Elain. I’m not going to lie and convince you that I’m some clean, good, shiny guy like that doctor you’re going to be with.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do,” Elain said taking another step forward, “I just want the truth.”

“What does it even matter?” he said over his shoulder, “We don’t need to share each other’s persona life. We don’t need to dig that deep into each other’s truth. That would just make what we have… complicated.”

Elain blinked at his words. He was right, of course. She didn’t need to know him, not really.

“Would you kill the light,” He asked once he had crawled back into his bed.

“You’re going to sleep?”

“I’m still exhausted, so… yeah.” He lifted his head up, “Are you staying?”

She swallowed again and looked down at her pile of books, “I think I’ll just go.” Lucien held her gaze for a moment longer before nodding and plopping his head back against the pillow. As she gathered her things she felt his eyes fall on her, and once the final book was in her bag his voice stopped her, “Or you can stay. Whatever you want to do.”

Looking back at him, her eyebrows were scrunched at him, did he want her to stay? It almost sounded like he did. Gradually, she set her books back down on the table and moved toward the bed. She looked at him dead in the eye as she kicked her shoes off and climbed in beside him.

She eased toward him. His body radiated heat in the bed and she steadily inched closer to him, burrowing the tip of her nose into his back. He smelled so clean, fresh, from the shower.

Elain couldn’t hold back a giggle when he protested at the icy feel of her nose against his spine, “Your nose is freezing sweetheart!”

A grin spread wide across both of their faces, and even though they couldn’t see it. They could feel it against each other. “How about my feet? She said wedging them between his calves.

He hissed at the contact, “You need to get some socks.”

She laughed lightly, “You have a fever, maybe this will help.”

After a moment he rolled onto his side so that he was facing her. His russet eyes scorched her, probably spiking her temperature too. His hand found her arm and his fingers stroked up and down it leisurely. Seductively. Even sick, he was still seducing her. Maybe he didn’t even realize it, it’s just what he did. Who he was, and he knew how it affected her.

Elain watched as his eyes drifted shut, and without opening them he murmured, “I like the sound of your laugh. It’s real and genuine. A lot of girls have this fake laugh. But not you.”

She snuggled closer toward him, her own eyes drifting shut too, “I like your laugh too.” She whispered feeling cozy in their own little cocoon.

“Yeah?” He cracked a crooked smile. Elain reached up and rested her palm against his flat chest. He let out a sigh as if it was someone relieving. “I laugh more since you came around.” He whispered quietly before finally drifting off to sleep.

It left Elain, however, frowning. Because he must not have laughed at all before because as of that moment she didn’t think he was particularly jovial. Still, she held him through the night just as he held her back. Her head was tucked underneath his chin, arms surrounding the other, like a lifeline. She didn’t fall asleep until she felt his fever break around 1. Then she relaxed and fell into sleep beside him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’m back! Sorry my exams literally kicked my ass (it’s still a little bruised im recovering now as we speak lol). But as it is summer time I will be updating this and hopefully finishing this one and the sequel I have in mind. Maybe I’ll actually finish my novel this summer. Hope you guys are enjoying ACOWAR, I know I did (even if I was still left wanting more).

Chapter 11:

It wasn’t the warmth of the body next to her, or the light that shined into the window that woke Elain. In fact, it was the slight buzzing of an object sitting on top of the bedside table. The man that lay next to her groaned and removed the arm that had cradled her head all night to turn off whatever alarm had gone off on his phone. She sighed deeply and opened her eyes to find Lucien’s still closed. “’Morning,” he grumbled and she couldn’t help but giggle just a little bit.

“Good morning,” she said snuggling closer, “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, no thanks to you.” He opened his eyes and smirked down at her, “How did you sleep?”

She hmmed in response and leaned up to kiss the corner of his jaw. The hazy morning mood made her resistance to his charm nonexistent. “What time is it?” she mumbled into his neck, his arms tightening around her.

“Who cares?” he whispered into her hair, “Let’s not worry about it, just _stay_.” His voice was breathless in her ear as Elain chuckled leaving one last kiss against his throat before she pulled back, “Sadly I cannot, class remember?” She looked down, biting her lip at the pained expression on his face. He really was quite the theatric.

He groaned rather dramatically as he reached across her again to look at his phone, “It’s 9:16 to be exact,” he startled back when she flew from the sheets, “What’s wrong?”

         “I have class in fifteen minutes! I’m going to be late,” Still wearing the clothes from yesterday she was frantically pulling her shoes back on. She had only halfway put on her left shoe when she tried to get off of the floor, and failed as she slipped and fell down again. The act was either from her clumsiness or still sleepy state, neither knew for sure. Chuckling at her attempting to finish tying the shoe again, Lucien rolled out of his bed and went to the bathroom.

         When he returned Elain was throwing her hair back in a high ponytail. She looked up at him, still shirtless. The sight of him caused her chest to tighten, it took all her power to look away without blushing too profusely. He smirked, shaking what was in his hand, a toothbrush. “It’s a new one I swear,” was all he had to say before she popped the brush in her mouth and rushed to the bathroom.

She had never brushed her teeth so fast in her entire life; despite being a sophomore she had never once missed a class. But glancing out his bathroom door, she couldn’t help but groan at the fact she was leaving him. His flaming hair was tied back and he reached for something in the pantry, giving her the perfect view of his backside. Stupid school. Shaking herself away from the view she spit in the sink and washed her mouth out.

Wiping her mouth off, she darted to her backpack, “I’m sorry,” she said. It was the first time someone had spoken since the initial realization that she would be late.

He smirked, opening the front door, “It’s not a problem,” he handed her an apple. She nodded in appreciation of the only slab of breakfast she would get that morning, “Enjoy your overpriced education,” Her face shot up from the apple and he chuckled at the way her nose scrunched up when she got angry. Her brown eyes offended at his teasing. She stuck her tongue out at him and he barked even louder.

“Enjoy your day of smelling like greasy wings and overpriced beer.”

He shrugged, “fair enough.”

For a moment they lingered, just looking at each other before he cupped her cheek and leaned in. Their mouths were only a few centimeters away from each other when he murmured, “Have a nice day Elain,”

“Have a nice day,” she smirked back, looking deep into his russet eyes. She was the one who closed the space between them, their lips glued together. She didn’t know if she would ever get tired of the way his mouth moved against hers. As he pulled away she whimpered at the loss of contact, “Elain,” he whispered against her skin, “you have to go to class.”

“Right,” she groaned and bolted down the steps, and she didn’t look back as she heard him chuckle behind her.

*   *   *

A few moments later there was a slight knock on the door. Lucien, had just started a pot of coffee when he heard the sound. _Maybe she forgot something,_ he thought as he went to open the door. He instantly frowned at what stood there instead, the hulking landmass that was his brother Cassian. “What do you want?”

He flashed Lucien a cocky grin, “What’s the matter? Elain not put out last night.”

“ _Don’t talk about her like that_ ,” he hissed. He took a deep breath, knowing that his brother was merely teasing him. “We didn’t so much as kiss until this morning.” His hands braced the bar, “Then she left.”

“Damn.” He said taking a seat at one of the other barstools, “You really have it in for this girl, don’t you?”

He nodded, “Believe me, I wish I didn’t. It would have made my life so much easier.”

“What’s keeping her away?”

“She’s just using me to… gain experience.”

“Ouch.”

“I know,” the beep of the coffee pot sounded and Lucien grabbed two mugs from the cabinet. He filled both of them up and handed one to Cassian, “She wants to marry some dreamy future doctor who wants to help kids in Ethopia or some shit.”

“So… Why don’t you just tell her how you feel? Maybe her thoughts have changed.”

Lucien tasted the bitter coffee, still too hot for his liking he put it back down onto the counter, “I highly doubt that. The ideas she’s got for me aren’t one of commitment… and besides… she’s too kind to stick around for someone like me.”

“Don’t say that.” Cassian said patting his friend’s back, “We all have our own baggage, on some days it’s heavier, and others it’s not. All you have to do is ask for help when you have to carry it around.” He took a quick drink of his coffee, “And besides if this Ivy League Princess thinks she’s too good for you, then you’re too good for her.”

He shook his head, “It’s not like that… She’s just. She’s just different. I’ve never felt anything like this before.” He turned back to look at Cassian who sat there with his jaw dropped, “You really like this girl don’t you? The doe eyes, everything?”

The only response he could give was slightly nodding his head, “I really do.”

*   *   *

After class, the remnants of Halloween were clear as day in her apartment complex. Elain could only imagine the look on Nesta’s face when she left their apartment to find the black and orange streamers draping the hallway. Nesta loved Halloween, it was her favorite holiday, but Nesta detested any mess that a party left behind. “Lazy scum,” is usually what she called the partygoers, and Elain couldn’t help but laugh at the memories of her sister.

She was about four doors down from her apartment when one of the other doors opened. Out stepped a man with a rumpled jacket and raven like hair. When he turned around they were face to face.

Elain blinked up at him, “Rhys?”

A tinge of pink spread across his cheeks and the master bartender slipped his hands into his pockets, “Hello, Elain,” One of his hands reached back and ran their fingers through his hair. The act only made his hair look even darker, just like his brothers. He was probably drop dead gorgeous, on his worst day, which made Elain even more furious at the ‘family’ genetics. “Fancy seeing you here,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” she cracked a grin, “I live here.”

His ears seemed to turn up at that, “with your sisters?”

Elain nodded, and then pointed toward the door, “Does she know that you work at a bar full time?”

A twinkle of starlight danced in his eyes, “I don’t think she cares. And I own said bar with my brothers, or do I need to remind you that?”

“No… You don’t,” Elain said, the blush creeping up on her cheeks.

He nodded toward her, “Hey, you have a car don’t you?”

The middle Archeon sister eyed him warily, “Yeah, why?”

His hands shoved deeper in his pockets, “Well you see here, Carly I think it was drove home last night so I am without the means of transportation.” Elain just stared at him, “Sooooo I was wondering if you could give me a lift back to Illyria?”

Elain smirked, “Why don’t you ask _Clare?”_ pointing back to the room he had just come out of.

He barked with laughter too similar to Lucien’s, “So the doe is actually a bobcat, no wonder my brother likes you so much.”

“Right,” she rolled her eyes and pushed past him, “Follow me or don’t, but let me drop my stuff off.” He followed and muttered thanks.

They walked the rest of the ways down in complete silence; she could feel Rhys study her. She pulled her keys out of her purse and opened the door to her apartment. The first thing she noticed was the black tarp that covered the floor of her apartment. “What the hell is that?” Rhys said.

“My sister,” Elain said stepping onto the tarp, beckoning Rhys to follow her.

“Elain!” Feyre beamed. The youngest Archeon turned to see her sister in tow with the ‘bartender’ they had initially wanted Elain to hookup with. Rhys stood there smirking at her, she was in an old oversized white t-shirt and her entire body was spattered in paint. “Oh,” her voice died, “I didn’t know we were going to have company,” she bit at her sister.

Rhys opened his mouth only for Elain to interrupt him, “We’re not,” Feyre couldn’t help but smirk at the look Rhys had given her sister. He looked at her as if he hadn’t expected for her to react that way, “I’m just giving him a ride back to the bar.” Elain strode past her sister and went to her room, leaving the two busybodies alone.

As she was shifting through her bag she heard Feyre go, “And what exactly were you doing on this side of town?” There was a hint of a bite in her voice; a little bit of Nesta always came out of Feyre when she was nervous.

“Well Feyre Darling,” he began, “I just so happened to be without transportation when I ran into your lovely sister who offered me a ride.” There was a slight pause before he said, “Don’t worry, next time I’ll be sure to stop by and say hello to my favorite sisters.”

Elain knew her sister would roll her eyes at that, “Yeah, I’m sure my boyfriend wouldn’t be too fond of that.”

“Fond?”

“More like he would snatch your balls off.” Elain walked out to see both her sister and Rhys smirking at each other, as if they had been craving this sort of banter their whole lives.

“Feyre if you want to look at my-“

“Alright that’s enough,” Elain intervened causing the two feuding parties to jerk their attention towards her. “Rhys,” she pointed towards the door, “Don’t make me rethink this,” Rhys held his hands up in defense as he turned and strutted out the door. Elain quickly turned toward her sister, “And you! I expected you to behave yourself, not bite off the head of Lucien’s brother.”

Feyre started wagging her eyebrows at her sister, “And how was last night ow OW,” she squealed making Elain turn to the couch and promptly throw the closest couch cushion at her sister. Then she ran out the door, the sound of her sister’s cackle followed her and Rhys down the hall.

She turned to see Rhys smirking at her, “Come on Romeo, let’s get to it,”

“No Romeo for me, I’m not pining after one girl.” The words echoed in Elain’s ears, and she somehow felt it was untrue. So she just nodded, “Now my brother on the other hand…” His voice trailed off and he eyes her knowingly.

Elain shook her head, a flash of warmth flashing over her face, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You two have been seeing a lot of each other.” Not exactly a question, but a statement.

She shrugged one shoulder, “I wouldn’t say we had been seeing a lot of each other,” even though she knew that she had seen Lucien more than any boy in her entire life.

The two stepped into the elevator with two other girls who stopped mid conversation and exchanged glances with them. The girls continued talking about a party they were going to and how they wanted to get ‘fucked up’. When they stepped off of the elevator Elain turned to Rhys with a smirk on her face, “Don’t you want to ask for their number?”

Rhys chuckled, “Not really my style, I’m more of a traditionalist.”

She wanted to mention how sleeping with a different girl every other week was the complete opposite of tradition, so she settled for her second question. “Does your brother know you’re here?”

His smile shifted into something cat like, “Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know?” They had already reached her car and he was getting himself situated into the passenger seat. He had opted not to put on the seat belt but Elain had refused to pull out of the parking lot until he did.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You want to know everything about my brother, admit it.” He leaned back into his seat and crossed his long legs over each other, like he owned the place. _The nerve,_ Elain thought.

“I don’t want to know _everything,_ ” she quipped. _Just the key parts._

“Well I can tell you that he is seriously into you.”

“How can you tell that?” She said too quickly. She internally cursed herself, thinking it would have been wiser to act like she didn’t care.

Rhys shifted in his seat, “I mean clearly he’s no me, there have been a couple of of girls but… no one like you.”

“And what exactly am I like?” She said pulling around the corner; they still had a good distance to go before they reached Illyria.

“You, Elain,” He began, “ are the kind of girl a guy brings home. Which is why I guess Lucien never got involved with your type before. We don’t have much of a home to bring girls home to. His old man is a piece of work. Even before the accident, he was bitter and foul-mouthed. Hell, I don’t know what flew faster—his fists or the empty beer bottles he threw at him.”

Elain’s hands clenched the steering wheel as she stared wide-eyed out at the street. A sour feeling washed over her, her stomach began to churn. His childhood didn’t sound much better than hers. Somehow Rhys sensed this and placed a delicate hand on her shoulder, “He sounds great,” she bit out before Rhys had the chance to say anything.

“A real prince,” he muttered.

Turning back to him she asked, “You mentioned an accident,” whatever it was Lucien obviously blamed himself, “What happened? Lucien mentioned that he was responsible.”

Rhys raised his eyebrows, his eyes wide with shock, “He _said_ that?” Elain nodded.

Never in her life would Elain have thought someone’s face could drain so quickly. His tan skin turned a ghastly pale. “It wasn’t his fault,” he whispered, “But If I were in that situation, I guess I’d be thinking the same thing.” He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts on how to explain this to Elain, “Well Lucien’s father wasn’t just a grumpy old drunk. His father, and my father, are the head of two of the mafia families in the city. Where we grew up, you married whom your father said you were to marry. I never liked the idea. Always wanted to break away, somehow I managed and took my closest friends with me. Lucien on the other hand… had to pretty much flee.

“You see,” he said as Elain began to pull into the parking lot of Illyria. “There was only one real girl before you. Jesminda. She was a normal girl, not relevant to any of the mafia families… and Lucien wanted to marry her. I don’t know if he’s ever told you but he’s the youngest of seven.”

“Seven?”

“Seven.” Rhys confirmed. “Well the two were stolen from their bed in the middle of the night. Lucien’s never told me any explicit details but they butchered the poor girl, and Lucien. That’s why he has all of those scars, although Amarantha is responsible for the one on his eye. _That_ story is for another time. All I know is that they butchered that poor innocent girl, and at 4am Lucien was knocking on my door step begging for Sanctuary.”

“And you gave it to him?”

Rhys nodded, “My father died years ago and our ‘family’ broke it off. Although Morrigan’s father Kier now is head of whatever is left of that family. I inherited a lot of money and I always liked Lucien. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a silver-tongued bastard. But I knew he wanted to break away from the ‘family’ just as much as I did if not more,” Elain parked her car and turned to look into the passenger’s violet eyes, “and once he told me what happened he became my brother, he might as well share my blood. He dropped out and we opened up Illyria.”

“You think he’ll ever go back to school?”

Rhys shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe, he likes running the bar. He didn’t at first, but… Illyria is a part of him now. He’s a part of our family now.”

He turned to smile at Elain, who was fighting to keep her tears from breaking, “I’m glad,” she said, “That he has someone like you, like you all.”

He opened the car door hesitantly; “Thank you for the ride Elain,”

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Before he left he drummed his fingertips on the window of her car, “My brother’s a good man you know.” Elain nodded, she wasn’t sure what to say, “I heard you came over and helped him when he was sick, he deserves someone like you.”

Embarrassed, Elain tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, “Thank you,” she said, “But you don’t know me Rhys,” She wanted him to know that she wasn’t going to be the girl to save his brother, she could barley save herself.

“Maybe I can see you better than you think,”

“I highly doubt that.” Elain snapped. Who was this man to tell her who she was, he didn’t know her and he certainly didn’t have the right to make assumptions.

He flung his hands in the air, “Alright maybe I don’t, but my brother does. He wouldn’t be wasting his time with you otherwise.”

Elain’s fists gripped the steering wheel, she snarled at him, “You’re making a lot of assumptions here, Lucien and I are barely friends.”

He laughed a little at that, which made Elain’s face turn even brighter, “You keep telling yourself that. See you around Elain.” He threw a peace sign over his shoulder as he walked back into the bar. She waited a moment, just to see that he got inside all right, and then she cursed him the entire way home. She really needed to take a break from spending so much time at Illyria.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Just to prove I’m back J

 

Chapter 12:

The following day Lucien stood at her door. The vestiges of Halloween still lingered in the hall behind him. Nesta insisted the culprits come forward to clean it up themselves, and so far no takers. For a moment Elain felt uncomfortable, remembering her conversation with his brother. She was pretty certain Lucien wouldn’t appreciate him sharing everything he had with her, but then she doubted Rhys had confessed their little chat to him—primarily his matchmaking efforts. The realization that Lucien likely knew nothing of that encounter eased her anxiety.

He leaned against her doorframe with a box from Edgar’s Bakery.

Her eyes pointed at it, “What’s that?” she asked, smiling up at him.

“A cupcake,” was the only thing he offered.

She stepped forward, “What kind?”

“Hmm,” he leaned forward so they were about a hairs breadth away from each other, “Double Chocolate. A thank you,” he said, “For coming to my rescue the other day.”

Elain blushed, “It was nothing,” Nevertheless she accepted the box and welcomed him inside. She sat the box down at the island and turned to grab two forks from one of the drawers. She handed one to him and popped open the box, “This looks absolutely delicious,” She dug her fork deep into the cake and took her first bite. She groaned, her eyes shutting as she savored every bite.

“That good?”

“Yeah,” she pointed to the fork that he had set beside him, “You better put that tool to good use.”

“I’m fine,” he chuckled.

She glared at him, “Seriously? It’s the size of a watermelon,” she picked up the cupcake and held it out for him to take, “Share it with me.”

           Lucien threw her a half smile and leaned over, doing the opposite of what she had intended. He leaned forward and took a bite out of the cupcake, instead of taking it out of her hands. When he leaned back she elbowed his ribs, “That’s like half the cupcake you prick.”

            As he chewed he shrugged at her, “You asked me to take a bite, I’m a dude I can’t help that we take big bites. The rest is yours.”

            She hummed some sort of response as she took another dainty bite out of their cupcake. When she looked up she found his eyes solely focused on her, “I meant what I said,”

            “About what?” She swallowed.

            “Thanks for staying and looking after me.”

            “Oh,” she said feeling somewhat awkward under the intensity of his stare, “It was nothing, and anyone would have done it.”

            “Don’t do that,” he quipped.

            “What?”

“Make light of what you did. Who you are. The truth is that I can’t think of another person who would have fussed over me the way you did. Not since my mom.” He nodded slowly. “You’re a sweet girl, Elain.”

Elain’s face warmed at his praise and her stomach fluttered. She swallowed the last bit of their cupcake and flinched when his thumb swiped the edge of her mouth, pulling away a bit of icing that he took into his own mouth. I watched him, riveted. “Isn’t it supposed to be the kiss of death when a guy calls you ‘sweet’?”

He looked at her. The moment stretched thickly until he answered, “Not if you’re so sweet all I can think about is getting you naked and tasting every inch of you again.”

A breath shuddered from her lips. Sucking in a deep breath, she could feel the blush already gracing her cheeks. She certainly saw the one that was gracing his own. She leaned forward and pressed her lips into his.

His mouth moved on hers like he was hungry, starving even, trying to taste every last bite of that cupcake. Her hands flew to his hair, pulling him even closer to her until she pushed him back and muttered, “My bedroom,” he nodded as she pulled him with her. She would have been lying if she had said they hadn’t bumped into anything on the way to her room. She nearly knocked over one of Nesta’s lamps she had in the living room, she just couldn’t help the hold that man had over her.

Once in her room, she shut the door and locked it. When she turned around he was already sitting on her bed, his eyes following her every move. She shuddered a breath before walking over to him. She reached over and placed her hands around his shoulders. His hands gripped her hips gently as he hands explored the firmness of his shoulders. She didn’t think she would ever get over how taut, strong, his body was. They stared into each other’s eyes until he wrapped a hand around her back and pulled her down for another kiss.

This time she had the luxury of tasting the cupcake as he kissed her, slow and unhurried. The kiss went on and on, languid and delicious. He broke away and pulled off his shirt. Next his hands flew to the hem of her sweatshirt. Elain lifted her arms to help him yank it over her head. Shortly after her bra followed. Losing her clothes was becoming a habit around him.

He flipped her back on the bed. Without touching her, he surveyed her in the bright light of the room like he was memorizing her. Heat inched over her body as she imagined all the imperfections he was seeing. With a whimper, she tried to push past him, embarrassed at the intimacy, too overcome at the sensations coursing through her.

“Wait.” His hand flattened on her belly, urging Elain back down. He slid down her body. Her heart thumped a painful beat in her chest as she squirmed, waiting for his next move. He looked up at her, his chin brushing her belly, his large hands burning two imprints on her hips as his deep gaze pulled her in and sucked her under. “Are you going to trust me?”

“Yes.” She stilled under him as she realized that she meant it. “I do.”

He grinned slowly and took her hands. Lacing his fingers with her own, he pressed them flat into the mattress, palm to palm at their sides. “Good.”

He then proceeded to kiss her. All over her body. Moist, open-mouthed kisses on her belly. her rib cage. The valley between her breasts. She sighed, writhed, quivering under his attention. _Oh my god,_ she though, there was no embarrassment anymore. Just him. His mouth on her.

He unzipped her jeans and dragged the zipper down, exposing the front of her panties. She surged when he pressed a kiss right there. The moist heat from his mouth seared Elain straight through the thin layer of cotton. His name slipped past her lips on a breath.

He came up then and kissed her hard, the only point of contact their mouths. Meshing lips, tongues, and teeth. He drove her wild. She kissed him back, matching him in heat and pressure. Her arms strained, still pinned at their sides by his hands. She whimpered against his mouth and pushed at his palms, her fingers linked in a bloodless grip with his, desperate to be free so that she could touch him.

Then she felt it. The unmistakable hardness of him against the inside of her thigh, scalding through their clothing. She parted my thighs wider and squirmed closer, bringing him directly against her. Elain lifted her pelvis and thrust her hips, grinding into him.

His lips broke from mine in a hiss. “Shit. Are you sure you’ve never done this before?”

“Please . . . my hands . . . I want to touch you,” Was her only response.

His fingers laced tighter with hers, and she felt his strength as their palms pressed flush together. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

His breathing was harsh, mingling with her own ragged breath. Every part of her throbbed, ached. “Please. You’ve touched me so much . . . let me touch you.”

He shook his head once, hard.

Elain’s voice cracked a little. “Why not?”

This close she could make out the dark ring of brown, almost black, around his irises. “Because you’re like candy in my mouth. I’m already too worked up for you.”

“But you said I can trust you.”

“You can.” His eyes cut into her, intense and stark—like he was willing for her to believe in him. “I would never hurt you.”

“Then let go of my hands.”

After a moment his grip on her loosened. She was free. She filled my hands with his chest, caressing the carved muscle, the ridiculously cut abs. His head dipped, fell into the crook of her neck as if he was gathering strength from some hidden reserve found only there.

 

Her hands dipped farther south, hesitating only a moment at his jeans. Her fingers slid inside the waistband. Before she lost the nerve, she unbuttoned him and dragged down the teeth of his zipper just like he had done to hers.

His head lifted and his eyes gleamed bright with warning. “Elain . . .” His voice was strangled.

Her doe eyes flicked to his and then back down, intent on her goal. “I never touched one before.”

She tugged open his jeans, pulling them down less than gracefully. It proved especially difficult with him on top of her.

“Fuck it.” He flipped off her onto his back. Lifting his hips, he yanked off his jeans himself. Then he was completely hers.

Smiling, she leaned over him, her attention moving from his face to . . . south.

He filled out the front of his boxer briefs impressively. she rested her hand over him, feeling, measuring the outline.

He said her name again, part plea, part groan. She ignored him, curiosity, the rush of blood in her ears, overriding the sound.

She flexed my fingers and the bulge grew under her hand. It was emboldening. Before she could change her mind, she delved inside his briefs and wrapped her fingers around him. His head fell back on the bed. “Elain.”

“It’s softer than I thought it would be.” She bit her lip, reveling in the length of him in her grasp.

He laughed hoarsely. “Sweetheart, I’m hard as a rock.”

“I mean your skin.” She flicked his nose, he chuckled lightly. It was like silk over steel. Her hand moved awkwardly, fumbling for a moment before settling into even strokes.

The tendons in his throat worked like he was battling for control. She guessed it should have worried her, but she only felt empowered. Gratified. Not for a moment did she think he would lose control and cross the line. He had her trust.

“You don’t have to—”

“I want to.” She said earnestly. And she meant it, her eyes looked deep into his and he knew she was telling him the truth.

For his own reassurance she leaned in a pressed her lips against his cheek, immediately his grip eased off her hand. She was able to move again, glide her fingers over him.

“All right,” he agreed in a thick voice. “Then you should probably call it what it is.”

She glanced up at him quizzically.

 

“Say it. Dick. Cock,” he supplied. “Don’t be afraid of the word, Elain.”

Her hand stilled and her face burned. She shook her head. “I can’t say that.”

“But you can touch it? Say it. Cock.”

The word sat heavily on her tongue. Her hand resumed its movements as she said it slowly, savoring the naughty word, feeling bold and wicked. “Cock.”

The russet of his eyes paled to a bright hazel. His chest rose and fell with a sharp breath. As if that word alone on Elain’s lips aroused him.

Her gaze moved from him—his cock—to his face. She didn’t know what fascinated her more. The sight of her hand moving over him or his expression. His eyes were closed.

Her hand moved within rhythm until her pace got faster and faster, all while he moaned and groaned her name. “God,” he gasped into her shoulder as her strokes increased their pace. After a few more moments he shuddered, the muscles and sinews in his chest and stomach rippling as his body reached climax.

His breathing gradually evened. He flung an arm over his head. After several more breaths, he muttered, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

She rose up over him and smiled. “You had a plan?” She kissed the side of his mouth as she hovered over him.

He moved his arm from his face and peered up at her. He tucked a strand of hair back behind Elain’s ear. “With you nothing seems to go according to plan.”

Still smiling she leaned down and kissed him again. He savored the kiss as his hands settled on her ribs, holding them together. When she sat back, some of her earlier insecurities came back. She slide off the bed and walked over to her closet, throwing the biggest t-shirt she could find over her shoulders.

Lucien sat up, still clad in only his boxers as he watched her. When she turned back they just stared at one another, her eyes followed the pattern of the tattoo up his arm, “What now?” she asked.

He nodded, “Well if this was a fling, we would just say goodbye at this point.”

“Oh,” she nodded. Because what they were doing was less than that, they were just pretending to be something more.

He quirked an eyebrow at her response, “Do you want me to stay?”

“Do you want to say?” She countered.

His signature crooked smile appeared, “If you want me here, say it. If this were more than a fling, then I would. If we were really into each other.”

The last sentence stung. The words jarred her as she nodded, they were just pretending. It was fake, she had to remind herself.

“Yes,” she said, “You should stay.”

His smirk extended, “You don’t sound too excited, remember? Not really a turn on.”

Elain rolled her eyes, “Oh shove it,” she laughed lightly as she kicked off her jeans. He held back the covers for them, she let him slide in first, “I always sleep on the left side,”

“Noted,” he said winking at her. She slide in beside him, the cool sheets settling over them. She sighed deeply as he pulled her body closer to hers, completely spooning her. The warm, smooth skin wakened her nerves all over again. His maleness, his size, his strength made her breath shaky.

Electricity buzzed along her nerves. Those parts of her that were heavy with aching a little while ago warmed back up all over again.

His arm wrapped around her waist, his hand resting on her stomach. He pulled away for a second to gather her hair and drape it over her shoulder so it wasn’t in his mouth. Elain could feel his breath on the back of her neck. God. The aching was back. She squeezed my thighs together as if she could assuage it. How was she supposed to sleep?

“This Grayson guy—” he started.

“Yes?” Elain asked in a small voice.

“If he runs out after you mess around, then it doesn’t mean anything to him. You don’t. Understand?”

She winced, reminded that she had done that to him the other night. “I’m sorry that I-”

“I’m not saying this to make you feel bad for bailing that first night, Elain. I’m just telling you because I don’t want some guy, Grayson or anyone, to ever use you.”

His breath fanned her nape. She knew his lips were close. Unable to help herself, Elain rolled onto her side and studied him in the gloom, their noses practically touching.

“Thanks for doing this.” she almost added “thanks for caring,” but that might be assuming too much. She swallowed those words back.

He laughed lightly. “I’m not totally selfless here, Elain. I enjoy you. Clearly.” His hand brushed her cheek, the fingertips a soft graze. Flutters erupted in her belly. Her cheeks burned hotter thinking about her hand wrapped around him.

“I enjoy you, too.” Elain leaned forward and kissed him then, and this time it was different, slow and sweet and tender. Of course it didn’t stay that way. None of their kisses ever did. It built, deepened. Blood rushed in her ears. She cupped his face and wrapped an arm around his neck, aligning her body to his. After a moment, they broke for air.

“We should get some sleep,” he panted.

She chuckled brushed lost bits of his hair out of his face, the sweat already making the strands stick to his forehead. “I love your hair,” she said in response. He blinked at her as her fingers wove into his hair. “I could spot you from a mile away, it’s like candlelight. A thousand different colors.”

There was a look of awe in his eyes as he stared down at her, “And your hair’s like fresh honey, it’s just dripping with sweetness.”

“A poet bartender,” Elain murmured, settling her hand against his upper chest.

“Sweetheart, every bartender is a poet.”

“I guess you get to see quite a bit of the world from behind the bar.”

“I see enough. I saw you.”

Still smiling, Elain started to relax against him. The glide of his fingers through her hair began to ease her. “Tell me more,” she encouraged, her voice sleepy and soft.

His voice rumbled through his chest. “You just want to hear me say that you’re beautiful, is that it?”

She poked his sides. “Noooo.”

“You know you are. You don’t need to hear me say it.”

Her smile slipped. “Why would I know that?”

“Uh. Look in the mirror. Watch the eyes that follow you when you walk into a room.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. She closed her eyes as her fingers traced lazy circles on his chest.

“Graysen won’t be able to resist you. I don’t know how he has so far.”

She stilled against him, my fingers freezing.

Anger flashed through her. Why did he have to bring Graysen up right now? When they were like this? It just felt . . . she didn’t know. Wrong.

“Thanks,” she murmured. Closing her eyes, Elain willed herself to sleep, to escape her annoyance, escape him. Of course, she was too wound up with irritation—and an aching awareness of him at her back—to have a hope of falling asleep. She was stuck, probably awake until they both got up in the morning.

That was her last thought before her eyes fell shut.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Thank you for all of the lovely comments, I’ll be finishing this fic up in about 3 chapters (yay!) and then moving onto my sequel for this (hint: it’s about Nessian *insert heart eyes emoji*) so hopefully you guys will love that one just as much as you’ve loved this one!

Chapter 13:

Throwing her bag over her shoulder Elain hurried across campus. She was already late for lab when she stopped at the crosswalk. She bounced anxiously as she waited for the little white man to appear, letting her know it was safe to walk across the street.

“Hey, Elain! Hold up!”

Her head whipped around to see Graysen jogging toward her. He smiled as he gave her a tight hug. “Hi!” she said flustered, “How’s it going?”

“Good,” he nodded across the street, “Are you headed that way?”

“Yeah, Hendricks Building.”

“C’mon. I’ll walk you, I just got out of class.”

Together they crossed the street, Elain pulled one of her hands out of her pocket to nervously adjust the strap on her bag.

“I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving, I really need a break.” Graysen said.

Elain nodded, “Me too, I can’t wait to see everyone at home, especially Alis.”

He rolled his eyes, “We’ll have to hear about her new boyfriend.”

Elain elbowed his side, “Be nice, I like this one.”

The boy next to her groaned, “Do I have to be? She changes boyfriends like socks.”

“Well we can’t all be devoted to someone for years on end.” Elain teased.

They paused outside of the Hendricks Building, his eyes wide as he held up a finger to her, “First of all, it was maybe… maybe two years. And remember,” he raised his eyebrows, “we’re not dating anymore, remember?”

Elain grinned at that and stared straight ahead. When she turned back she realized he was staring at her, studying her. “What about you?” he said, “Are you dating anyone?”

Two things happened in that moment. First, an image of Lucien came across her mind, even though it shouldn’t have. She hadn’t seen him in a week. Not since he had spent the night in her apartment. Second, she realized he was asking if she was single. In all their years of friendship he had never once asked if she was single. Obviously now he cared enough to ask.

So she responded in the only way she could, “No. Not really.”

“Hmmmm.” He murmered, “You should a little uncertain. There is someone,” he chuckled and pointed to her cheeks, “And now your cheeks are pink so I must be right.”

Elain pressed a hand to her face, she felt the warm tinge of a blush coming over her, “No, they’re not. It’s just chilly.”

“Oh, you so have a boyfriend.” He laughed.

“Shut it,” she hit his arm, “I do not.”

She took her first steps away from him and walked up a couple of the steps outside of the building. She turned again to see that smile, that dimple smile she loved so much, “Maybe not yet, but there’s someone. I can see it in your eyes.”

 _You!_ She wanted to should, _It’s always been you._

His gaze flicked over her, “You look good, Elain. Did you do something with your hair?”

“Oh. Thanks,” Elain reached back and adjusted one of the bobbypins. “Yeah, Mor made me get some high lights about a month ago.” She thanked the Lord above that he voice actually sounded normal. Like compliments were something she received on a regular basis. Lucien’s voice floated through her mind.

 _“You’re beautiful”_ he had said.

She glanced over her shoulder, “I think I’m late.”

Graysen nodded, “Oh yeah, Sorry! I’ll text you. You okay to leave on Wednesday?”

“Sounds good.”

“Great,” he smiled turning to leave Elain. She watched him go even though she was already late. As she sat in lab she tried to think as far back as she could, had Graysen ever paid her a compliment? He had never looked at her in anyway other than his little sister’s best friend.

But now… he looked at her… like he saw her.

////////////

Feyre walked into her room, cracking the stem of a banana as Elain worked on her lab report, “So,” she said taking a big bite, “No Lucien tonight?”

The question hit a nerve. There shouldn’t have been an assumption that she would be with him just because they had spent a few nights together. At least… Should there be?

Elain wanted to snap that she hadn’t heard from him in over a week, so way would she think that she would be seeing him that night? But then again that might reveal just how much she wanted to see him again. So instead she answered, “Nope. Just trying to get some work done. This is due on Thursday, but I have work tomorrow so I’m just going to get it out of the way.” She glanced at her younger sister, who was staring at her inquisitively.

“Hm.” Was all she murmured as she took another bite of the banana.

She leaned back in her chair and stared at her evenly, “What?”

“Well, you haven’t seen him since you took care of him, right?”

Elain had told Nesta and Feyre about staying with Lucien when he was sick. She had just failed to mentioned that he had brought her a cupcake and stayed over a couple of days after that. Feyre had been at Tamlin’s and Nesta had been out so late that Elain and Lucien were already asleep. She never heard a sound from next door, not even when he left that morning.

She frowned, “I didn’t take care of him.”

Nesta had looked confused when she explained how she had nursed him through a minor stomach bug. Clearly, if there wasn’t making out involved she wasn’t sure what I was doing with him. Valid confusion. To be fair, Elain suffered from the same confusion. Only Feyre had looked vaguely knowing. Like she understood perfectly what I was doing with him.

Elain arched an eyebrow, “I just got him some medicine.” She denied lamely, failing to also mention how she curled up behind him and held him through the worst of his fever.

“Oh really,” she looked amused, “The last time Nesta was sick, I stayed far away just so I wouldn’t catch it. And we’re as thick as thieves.” She cocked her head, “What do you do for some guy you just met? You skip work and nurse him like a regular Florence Nightingale.”

She shrugged, “I have strong immunities.” Not much of an excuse, but it was all she could think to say.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. Elain picked it up and felt her stomach tie itself into a knot.

Speak of the devil.

Lucien: Hey. How are you?

What! She wanted to scream. Had she summoned him with her thoughts?

“Who’s that?” Feyre asked looking over her shoulder.

“Just my lab partner,” she lied. Elain wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to lie, but it was her first impulse. So she put her phone facedown.

Accepting the lie, Feyre continued, “So you have no plans to see him again? You don’t want to go to Illyria this weekend?”

“No.”

“Hm. Just thought you might be missing him.”

“Nope.” Trying her best to avoid her sister’s gaze, her eyes returned to her laptop and she typed another word. “It’s not like a thing Fey, I know it and so does he.”

“Yeah,” she sounded unconvinced, “But the friends with benefits thing can get tricky.”

“We’re not even that.”

“Well, whatever you are,” she waved a hand dismissively. “You’re done with him then?”

Elain typed another word, “Yeah, I guess. I haven’t really thought about it much- about him.” Only all the time. “I’ve been busy, and he has my number anyway.” Her gaze flickered to her phone on her desk.

“Ahhhhh,” Feyre said, “So you’re waiting for him to call.”

Too late, I regretted saying that, “I’m not waiting for him to do anything.”

“Okay, okay.” She threw her banana peel into the trash, “Just checking on you, that’s all.”

“Thanks, but everything’s fine, Mom. I’m going home with Graysen for Thanksgiving. That’s what this whole Lucien thing was about, remember?”

“Oh I remember,” she nodded, “I was just curious if you still did.” With that parting remark, Feyre glided through her door.

She resumed tapping away at the keys, struggling to concentrate on her concluding paragraph. She finally gave up and back from her desk. Standing, she rubbed her hands all over her face and paced in the small space between my desk and bed.

The conversation with Feyre hadn’t helped. She’d been thinking about him a lot. Especially after the night they had shared together. Deciding it wouldn’t be wrong to at least reply to his text she plucked her phone off of her desk. His message stared back at her and her fingers paused a moment before she typed.

Me: Good, How’s it going?

She hesitated, reading the simplist line, making sure that it was exactly what she wanted to say. Not too much. Not too little. Satisfied, she hit SEND.

Casually, she set the phone down and sank back into her chair, rereading the last paragraph of her lab report. Now that the text was sent she was determined to finish her assignment.

And then her phone buzzed and she snatched it up.

Lucien: I’m good. Ever since this excellent nurse took really good care of me a few days ago. I’m better than ever.”

Smiling she typed back

Me: Lucky you.

Lucien: She tastes so good, too. Like a cupcake.

Her eyes widened and her face flamed as she typed.

Me: That’s what happens when someone feeds her a cupcake.

Lucien: All she needed was a sexy nurse outfit and my fantasy would have been complete.

She laughed, the crudeness of it all.

Me: Your fantasy involves puke and a nasty stomach bug???

Lucien: It involves you.

The smile that slipped from her face as she caught her breathe. He wasn’t even there, and just like that he made her knees go weak. Her fingers trembled over the keys, unsure of how to respond. Then she noticed he had started typing again, so she waited to see what would appear.

Lucien: When can I see you again?

Her heart raced at the idea of seeing him again. At her place? His? She gnawed on the bottom of her lip, thinking.

Lucien: Can you grab lunch on Wednesday?

She blinked: Lunch… Out? Not in his loft or her apartment? What the hell was this? Friends went out for lunch. And couples. And they certainly weren’t a couple. She guessed they could be friends.

Friends. Would that be too weird?

Lucien: Hello?

Me: Yes. Weds works.

Lucien: How about Rita’s?

Rita’s served the best pizza and calzones in town, when it wasn’t known for it’s bar scene at night. It wasn’t far from Illyria, just off of the strip.

Me: Sounds good. What time should I meet you?

Lucien: I’ll pick you up at noon, ok?

She frowned; picking it up made it feel like a date.

Me: It’s just lunch. I can meet you.

Lucien: I’ll pick you up.

She stared at the screen, debating about arguing with him. Instead she just types “okay”

Lucien: See you then.

Setting her phone down on her desk, she looked at the door that led out to the living room. The sound of the television floated into her room. Feyre always studied while watching TV. She took a few steps into her direction before deciding against telling her about the date. After the inquisition of a few moments ago she would only see this as an affirmation that she missed Lucien and wanted to see him again or some other busy body nonsense.

It wasn’t that It was simply deepening her ‘education’. Their pseudo-date would be a trial run for when Graysen and Elain finally went out. If that even happened like she hoped.

This was just a pretend date. The center of her chest pulled uncomfortably. She rubbed at the spot, willing the tightness to loosen. Yeah. Pretend. As was everything else they had done. Nothing more. Nothing real.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the following and commenting on this fic! It has really brightened my spirits!!

Chapter 14:  
He knocked at her door a few minutes before noon. She took a final look at herself in the mirror. It was tricky deciding what to wear. They were going for pizza in the middle of the day. It wasn’t like getting dressed up for an evening out.  
She settled on skinny jeans and a fitted long sleeved shirt. It was a lovely shade of blush with little yellow flowers all over it. She opted for a pair of booties instead of the sneakers she usually wore to class. Her hair was long and wavy, pinned back by a handful of bobby pins. A lot of effort for her. She wasn’t in total denial. He thought her hair was beautiful and she wanted to live up to that. It was something humbling to know that her ego craved that much affirmation. She wasn’t so unlike other girls who sought for approval. It made her feel somewhat normal.  
Opening the door, the sight of him hit Elain like a fist. God. When was that going to stop happening. How many kisses would it take for him not to have that effect on her?  
“Hey,” ‘Okay, did my voice have to sound like I just sucked in a bunch of helium?’ she internally screamed.  
“Hey,” he said back, his eyes flickering over her, “You look really pretty.”  
“Thanks,” she blushed, the corners of her mouth turning. She surveyed him in return. He wore jeans and blue collared button down. The shirt hugged his broad shoulders, the crisp edges rounding him perfectly. “So do you.”  
He grinned.  
“Well,” she flustered, “Not pretty, good. You look good.” God. First date fail.  
“Thanks, ready?”  
She nodded and grabbed her purse. She pulled the strap across her chest and locked the door. There were plenty of girls walking the hall, lounging in the small sitting room across from the elevator. The stares they gave them weren’t subtle. One girl leaned far back, nearly toppling over the chair to check out Lucien as they waited for the elevator.  
Elain was sure that he noticed, but said nothing. Or maybe he didn’t notice. Maybe he was just accustomed to being checked out, so he wasn’t aware it was happening. He waved me inside the elevator. They didn’t talk on the ride down or the short walk to his car. He opened the passenger door for her, the small act catching her off guard.   
“I’m starving,” he said as they pulled into the parking lot.  
“Me too,” She got out of the car before he had the chance to open it for her. She caught his glance, his eyes saying ‘Really?’ to her. All she did was smile and shrug before turning to walk into Rita’s with him.  
The restaurant was close to campus, so of course it would be crowded with students.  
“Guess I could have picked some place less busy,” Lucien murmured after the hostess told them it would be a few minutes.  
“They turn tables over fast. Everyone’s got class or work to go to.”  
He nodded and stared out at the restaurant, scanning the red-checkered table clothes. He actually looked pretty nervous.  
She leaned forward to catch his gaze, “Are you working tonight?”  
He turned, facing her again, “Yeah.”  
“It’s nice you have your days free.”  
“My schedule is pretty much my own, but I like to be there in the evenings when it’s peak business. Especially weekends. It’s never that busy on weekdays, I think you met Cassian? That guy you kind of want to punch in the face.”  
She giggled, “Yeah, him I remember.”  
He and Rhys have been planning that place since they were kids. Then all three of them tried to enlist right out of high school, Rhys was denied due to a leg injury. But him and Az got back this summer. Both of them… They’re changed. But they have a good enough mask to keep the place running.”  
Elain nodded, “Seems like running a business is a big responsibility.”  
“I like it okay. Rhys and I have been working on a couple of ideas. Been thinking about expanding and adding a second location. Which is crazy when you think that I never wanted anything to do with that place in the beginning. I hated having to drop out of school and begging Rhys and them to take me in. I guess I just don’t like being in another person’s debt, so maybe this is a way for me to repay him?”  
Elain studied him, “I don’t think Rhys would mind you being indebted to him as long as you were happy. You deserve to be happy.”  
Lucien paused, his chest heaving slightly. Elain looked down at her feet and tucked her hair behind her ear, “You don’t want to go back to school though? Finish your degree?” She was trying to come up with anything that would change the subject.  
He shrugged out of his trance; “I’m running a business now. Learning through trial and error. And if I went back to school I would feel bad about leaving the rest of them in order to focus on myself. It’s a family business, and they’re my family.”  
The hostess called for them. She led them to a table for two near the window that faced the street. Seated, they opened their menus.  
“What kind of pizza do you like?” he asked.   
“My favorite kind is usally the Greek. Love the olives and feta and bits of shaved gyro meat on it. I usually get a slice or two of that.”  
“That’s one of my favorites, too. Let’s get a large.” Closing the menu, he added with a grin, “I eat a lot.”  
“I remember. 20 meatballs” Her laughter floated around the restuarnt.  
He nodded, “That’s right.” He pointed at her, “You cheated me on those, I think you only gave me five.”  
Elain shook her head, “So unfair. Guys have some kind of superhero metabolism.”  
“You should see Cassian eat. He’ll get a large just for himself and a side of wings and the meatball calzone.”  
“Teenage boys.” She sighed shaking her head.  
“Yeah, and he was in the military so he has like no body fat at all.”  
Elain’s gaze skimmed Lucien’s chest and arms appreciately. He was all hard, lean lines of tight muscle. He didn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on him either. Recalling that I had stripped down to my panties in front of him suddenly astonished her.  
Pushing away the memory, she added, “And your other brother has a lot of late night activity too.”  
The instant the words slipped out, her face caught fire. She had pretty much just called his brother a man-whore to his face. And it only called attention to what brought them together in the first place, the fact that Elain had thought he was the infamous bartender that slept with every girl to pass through Illyria’s doors.  
Luckily he didn’t take offense. He laughed. The waitress arrived to take their orders right then. She froze, an awed smile fixed to her face as she eyes Lucien.  
“What can I get for you?” she addressed Lucien without glancing at Elain. She couldn’t blame her. Whenever he was around he was all she could look at too.  
He turned that dazzling smile on her and the waitress eyes might have glazed over. He ordered our pizza, it took her a moment to look down at her pad. She fumbled with the pen before finally managing to write. “Nice choice, that’s my favorite.”  
Lucien’s gaze slide to Elain’s, “Ours too.”  
She looked at Elain, as though remember her presence. A stupid smile curled at her lips as she looked down at Elain’s hands laced together with his. That single word ricocheted through her head. It made Elain feel all kinds of good to hear him say that single word. Foolish, she knew. But it was there.  
She asked for their drink orders, and left. Leaving them alone again.  
Lucien leaned forward again; looking so at ease that Elain began to feel somewhat relaxed, “So the gloves are off when it comes to my brothers, huh?”  
“I’m so sorry,” Elain gasped. Her fingers began plucking at the edge of her napkin, the sense of ease evaporating.  
“It’s okay. His reputation is well earned. I tried to stop it in the beginning. But he’s a grown ass man now. He’ll learn sooner or later.”  
“Learn what?”  
She thought for a brief moment that he squeezed her hand, but she must have been imagining it… at least she wanted to. “You have to wait for the right girl to come along.”  
Elain swallowed, suddenly the waitress returned to give them their drinks, and left again. She stared at Lucien, wondering how many people would dare go through what he had been through. To take that chance. Even though he claimed he was a coward, she could see him. “Let’s talk about something else,” he said when she couldn’t find the words to respond.  
She nodded, okay with leaving the subject behind. Talking about his upbringing and what exactly they were doing only made her think of hers.  
“Elain?”  
Elain turned around at the sound of her name and stared at Graysen’s face, not registering him at first. It was a strange bewildering experience staring at Graysen with Lucien across from her. Like two worlds coming together that should have never met.  
“Graysen,” she hesitated, leaning back into her chair, suddenly realizing how far she had been leaning over into Lucien’s bubble. “Hi,” she added.  
“Hey, how’s it going?” his gaze slid from Elain to Lucien, and back again. He hovered there, waiting. She couldn’t think of anything to say even though it was apparent he was waiting for an introduction.  
“Hey, I’m Lucien,” Apparently he knew what to say. Lucien reached out and shook Graysen’s hand in a solid looking grip.  
“Graysen, I went to high school with Elain.”  
“Oh yeah,” Lucien smiled amiably, “That’s cool to have someone you know around.” His expression was innocent, he gave nothing away, like that Elain might have mentioned Graysen’s name a dozen times. She thanked God.  
“Yeah it is,” Graysen’s eyes settled on Elain as he answered Lucien.  
“We just met a couple of weeks ago,” Lucien added, looking at me with eyes that looked suddenly like a flame. Probing and intimate. Like he knew what I looked like naked and couldn’t wait to get me naked again. “But it feels like we’ve known each other longer. Know what I mean?”  
Elain’s eyes flared. She kicked him under the table, wondering what he was doing painting the picture that they were some kind of hot and heavy couple. That’s the only thing she knew for sure, and she didn’t need him planting the idea in Graysen’s head that she was unavailable.  
“Uh yeah,” Graysen murmured, his eyebrows drawing together.  
She still couldn’t find her voice. Her face felt overly hot and she knew it must be just as read as the red squares on the tablecloth.  
“Yeah, well it was nice meeting you man.” The smile was still on Lucien’s face and in his voice. But there was a steeliness in his gaze. His meaning was clear. Goodbye and go the fuck away.  
“I’ll see you later Graysen,” Elain said and gave a small wave, eager for him to leave but not because she was so enamored of her date and wanted some alone time. She wanted the embarrassment to come to an end.   
“Yeah,” Graysen nodded and moved back across the restaurant. He reclaimed his seat at the bar with a couple of other guys. Elain remembered seeing him around campus with one of them, she thought it was his roommate.  
“So that’s the infamous Graysen.” Lucien’s voice probed her out of her thoughts.  
“This was a bad idea.” She said.  
“What was?”  
“You. Us. This date we’re pretending to be on.” Lucien was silent as she flicked her gaze to Graysen across the restaurant before looking back at him, “Did you have to do that.”  
“Do what? Make you look desirable? You should be thanking me.”  
“What? How?”  
“I just took you from one category… that-girl-I-never-pictured-naked category, and dropped you into I-wonder-what-she’s-like-in-bed.”  
Elain blinked and fell silent as their pizza arrived. The waitress placed it on the table between them along with two plates. “Oh” she finally said as soon as she finished processing the information.  
Lucien leaned in, “Now don’t look, but trust me when I say that he hasn’t been able to stop glancing over here.”  
She leaned forward in her chair, “Really?”  
“Yeah, and now it’s just about to get better.”  
Elain leaned forward a little bit more, the steam from the pizza floating up to her face, “Better how?” she asked.  
He leaned across the table and pressed his mouth to hers. She immediately forgot the impropriety of kissing in broad daylight, let alone in a public place. His mouth was warm and open against hers. The kiss was branding, too intoxicating to resist. Immediately, she responded, his tongue slipped inside and stroked her own. Nothing around them existed. Just his mouth on hers. Her hands reached out, fingers grazing the planes of his face, touching but not quite. It was like if she touched him, he might vanish altogether.  
A plate crashed nearby and she jerked. Lucien pulled back ever so slightly, his lips still grazing mine. He murmured, “Very nice. That should do the trick.”  
The air whooshed from her lips and she dropped back into her chair, “What?”  
“Graysen can’t take his eyes off of you right now. You should see his face-no-don’t look. I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls you tomorrow.”  
Actually, Elain was very tempted to look. That was the sad thing. She was too busy staring at the guy she wanted to pull back across the table and keep on kissing.  
Which was all kinds of fucked up. She needed to get a grip on herself. Lucien wasn’t the one. He wasn’t her one.  
Gulping a deep breath, she folded her hands into her lap, “Oh,” she wasn’t sure how she felt that he had staged that kiss. She hadn’t been thinking about Graysen when her lips locked to Lucien’s. She should have been. But she wasn’t. Had Lucien felt anything at all?  
His gaze held hers, “Pretty good luck, huh? Running into him here?”  
“Yeah,” she nodded, watching as he dug into the pizza between them. He served one slice to each of them.  
“Eat up,” he said taking a large bite from his slice.  
She followed suit, willing the knots in her stomach to untie themselves. He groaned, “This is the best,”  
She chuckled, resisting the urge to slap him, “It really is,”   
“Hey,” he reached across the table and covered her hands with his own, “It’s going to work out, you’ll see. You’ll get your guy.”  
Her heart clenched a little at his words. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure who that guy was anymore.


	15. Chapter 15

 

            Graysen did call the following day. Elain had forgotten that Lucien had predicted that much. Or maybe she had just blown the suggestion off. When his name popped up on her phone she practically fell out of her chair. Standing, she took a deep breath and answered, managing to sound somewhat calm.

            “Yes, it was good to see you yesterday,” Elain said into her phone.

            “Yes, I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving too. No problem. We can leave Wednesday morning at 8. My professor canceled class that afternoon, so that sounds great.”

            It was a normal conversation but there had been a different tone to it. Graysen laughed too readily. He sounded… almost nervous, asking more than once if Elain minded leaving so early in the morning. Not that he wasn’t always polite, but there was something different in the exchange.

            She hated to admit it, but that staged kiss had maybe done some good, after all. He didn’t mention it, of course. He didn’t even mention Lucien, but Lucien and that kiss were there, between them, slowly filling those moments of crackling silence. Lucien had been right. Everything was falling into place. If Elain ever had a chance with Graysen, it was now. Another chance wouldn’t come. This was it.

            The Monday before Thanksgiving, Elain found herself bypassing her normal route home after work and heading to Illyria. She had told herself it was because she wanted to let Lucien know he had been right. His staged kiss had done the trick after all. A simple thanks. That was all. Not because she wanted to see him again. Not because he hadn’t texted her since their date.

            At three in the afternoon, the place was dead. Her tennis shoes fell silently on the plank flour. She found him within minutes, checking inventory behind the bar. He didn’t notice her approach.

            “Hi,” she said propping her elbows on the bar.

            He looked up and smiled widely, immediately making Elain glad she had come. “Hey. Where you been?” He set his clipboard down and gave her his attention. That glad feeling only increased knowing he had noted her absence over the week.

            “I’ve been working the last couple of nights, for the O’Malley’s and a couple of other families.”

            “I wondered, I saw Nesta and Mor.”

            “You know them, never ones to miss out on a good time.”

            An awkward pause fell. Elain cleared her throat, “I owe you a thanks.”

            “Yeah,” he smiled, “For what?”

            “Graysen,” At the sound of his name something fell behind Lucien’s gaze, but the rest of his face didn’t let it show, “He called the next day and he’s been texting me on and off.”

            He smiled slightly, “Well. There you go,” this smile somehow seemed less. Or Maybe she was just imagining it. Or maybe it was her ego wanting him to feel something other than happiness for her moving forward with Graysen. “I told you he would call.”

            “You did,” she nodded, “So. Thanks, again.”

            He looked left and right, as if searching for something to talk about, “You hungry? Want a burger or something?”

            “I could eat.”

            “C’mon,” He led her into the back room and shouted over the counter, “Give me a Cauldron Burger and a basket of fries.”

            Someone shouted back from the kitchen, acknowledging his order.

            Elain’s eyes widened. When he turned back around she said, “Please tell me that’s not all for me.”

            He grinned and her stomach did that crazy little flip-flop, “I’ll share it with you.” He winked before sitting next to her at the table.

            They sat at one of the tables toward the back on the same bench, their shoulders brushing. It was confusing to be this close to him, not knowing what was okay. Touching, kissing, which they had done so much together before, now seemed like something they couldn’t do now. Partly because they were in public. Partly because none of this was real. She was finally-maybe- getting somewhere with Graysen.

            “So you’re leaving on Wednesday with Graysen?

            She nodded, “Yeah, it’s a four hour drive.”

            “Well that will give you some quality time with him.” He stared straight ahead, in the direction of the kitchen. Elain stared at his profile. A muscle feathered in his jaw.

            She nodded, “Yeah, and I’ll be over at his house quite a bit to see his sister. I usually go there after Thanksgiving to hang out. Watch movies. Graysen is usually there but he makes plans with some of his old friends.”

            “He’ll be there.” He cut in.

            “Yeah? Why-”

            “He’ll be there because you’re there.” Turning, he faced her, his left arm resting along the top of the table. With the wall to her right and the stretch of his bicep and forearm to her left, she felt caged, like he was closing in on her. Like he had figured her out. “If his sister wants you two to be together-“

            “She does,”

            “Then she’ll be a good sister and a good friend and find some reason to disappear.”

            She shook her head, “I don’t think it will happen like that.”

            “It will.”

            Elain angled her head and studied him, the dark ring of hazel around his eyes were a stark contrast to the russet color of his irises. “He doesn’t see his old friends often, they might make him go out.”

            “I’m telling you. He’ll blow them off to be with you.”

            Her chest tightened at the intense way he looked at her, and suddenly she heard herself asking, “Is that what you would do?”

            He stared at her and she waited, wondering why his answer mattered so much.

            “ _I_ ,” he began, “Wouldn’t have waited this long for you. I would have already shown up at your doorstep the moment I decided that I wanted you. I wouldn’t leave until I convinced you that you were mine.”

            “Oh,” Her skin shivered, imagining the scenario. Lucien at her door. Determined. Sexy. Saying things, doing things to convince her that she was his. “Maybe he hasn’t decided that he wants me then.”

            “He has, I saw his face at Rita’s. He’s already gone for you.”

            Suddenly she realized that they had moved into each other, not touching but so close that their breaths mingled.

            “Fuck,” he rasped and closed that tiny distance, kissing Elain like it had been forever and not just a week. But this week had felt like forever. She missed this. She realized. She missed him. He buried a hand in her hair and hauled her closer, their chests mashed together. His mouth devoured hers and she kissed him back just as greedily.

            “Here you go,”

            Elain jumped and pulled away. Two baskets of heart attack dropped onto the table before them. Elain recognized the short girl with jet black hair and silver eyes. She eyed Lucien like a nosy Aunt would and turned, making her way back to the kitchen, unfazed by their public make out.

            Her chest rose and fell like she had just run a marathon. Lucien’s eyes were that bright russet color she was learning to see as the sign that he was hot for her. She glanced from the food to him, part of me hoping he would forget the food and haul her upstairs with him.

            Her body felt as though it lived and breathed for this. For him. She wanted that ache satisfied. But she wouldn’t be the one to say the words. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t go that far. And there was always the fear, the desperate need to choose the safe path.

            All of which meant nothing would happen. Nothing more than kisses and fondling that made her want to pull her hair out in frustration.

            Lucien slapped his hands and rubbed them together, “Let’s dig in.”

            _Oh yeah. Food._

She picked up a cheese coated fry. He grabbed a clump of three. Tilting his head back, he dropped them into his open mouth. She watched him in awe, his strong jaw chewing.

            “How can you look the way you look and eat like this?” She blurted out.

            He grinned crookedly and leaned close, the warmth of his body reached out to wrap around me. “And how do I look?”    

            Elain rolled her eyes, crumpling a napkin and throwing it at him, “Oh shut it. You know you’re hot. Your body is insane.”

            Grinning in smug satisfaction, he picked up another clump of fries, “I just like to hear you say that. You’re not easy to impress.”

            She frowned, “What does that mean? Am I that difficult?”

            “No, it’s just that you’ve set your sights on one guy you met years ago when you were a kid. You don’t even glance at the guys who check you out. It’s like you don’t care what anyone thinks.”

            He was wrong. She did care what he thought. Once she met him, Lucien was the only one she even considered when she decided to hone her foreplay skills.

            Deciding not to debate that point, she warily assessed the burger, “How do I even eat that?”

            “You gotta just attack it. It’s the only way.”

            Nodding with resolve, she picked up the massive burger and tackled it with her teeth.

            Lucien chuckled as she chewed the mouthful and grabbed for a napkin, wiping off the juices from her lips and chin.

            “Nice.” He said in approval and leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips before she even saw it coming. It was quick and careless and her heart raced.

            Swallowing her bite, she shook her head, “Tell me you don’t eat like this every day. You’ll have a heart attack before you’re thirty.”

            “Not every day, no. And I work out. Up until I dropped out of college, I played soccer.”

            “In college?”

            He nodded, avoiding her gaze as he gathered the burger up into his hands. She thought back to what Rhys had told her about his dad. How after everything with Jesminda, he had dropped everything and went to find Rhys.

            “I still play, Coach a boys’ team twice a week and I play a little in the rec league on Sundays. I run every morning too.” He looked over at her in appreciation. “What about you? You look in shape.”

            Elain snorted, “I walk around campus and chase toddlers at the daycare. Nothing more rigorous than that.”

            “You should run with me sometime.”

            Normally the suggestion would have made her laugh, but staring into his eyes she thought she might actually like to try it.

            Picking up another fry, she nodded, “Maybe I’ll try.”

            “You’ll get to love it. Your body will miss it when you skip a day.”

            The front door slammed open right then. She looked up, startled. There was a commotion that sounded like two people arguing and then a man walked toward then, hair flaming red, just like Lucien’s. At the sight of his man, Lucien placed a protective arm out over Elain and tensed but his face showed nothing. “Eris.” He said, “What gutter did you crawl out of?”

            The crooked smile this man, Eris, gave Lucien made Elain’s stomach crawl. She gently placed her own hand above the one Lucien had slung over her.

            “Easy there little brother, I just wanted to check up on you. See how you were doing.” Elain’s ears perked up at the word. _Brother. Little Brother._

            “I'm Fine. You can go now.” Lucien said nodding toward the door.

            “Without you introducing me to your friend?” Eris grinned nodding towards Elain, “That would be awfully rude of you.”

            “ _She_ ,” Lucien growled, “Is none of your concern.”

            Eris stepped forward, Lucien’s grip on Elain tightening with every step. The man leaned forward, now that Elain got a better look of him. He did look related to Lucien, the jawline, and the flaming red hair. But his eyes were different. Black and terrifying. “This one is a lot prettier than the last one, brother. She looks like a spring time doe.”

            “She’s means nothing to me.” Elain’s head whipped to look at his profile. She knew his past; she knew he didn’t mean what he said. With the grip on her forearm, and the way he looked at his brother. She knew it was a lie, a lie meant to protect her, but that didn’t stop the heartache she felt at the words.

            But the lie didn’t seem to work on Eris, he tilted his head and smiled wider, “Now we both know that’s not true.” He turned and began to walk away, “I just came buy to let you know that father is dead. That I’m head of the family now and as far as every one else is concerned you’re dead.” Elain froze at the words, what did this mean? “Live your life brother, just remember who gave it to you.” And then he was gone.

            Lucien led out a shuddered breath and released the grip on her arm. “I knew something like this would happen eventually.” Elain said nothing, hoping her silence would make him believe she knew nothing. He turned toward her, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

            “It’s okay,” she gave him a weak smile and rubbed the side of his arm.

            Then he told her everything. Every grimily detail he could muster. Who Eris was, how it had happened, Jesminda, showing up on Rhys’s doorstep. Elain just sat there, quietly, as he told his story. Of course he had gone more in depth than Rhys had, but still. It was the first time either one of them had opened up about their past.

            When everything was said and done, Elain placed a hand over his own, “I think she would want you to be free.”

            Lucien looked away from their hands, his eyebrows scrunched at her, “Free?”

            She nodded and squeezed his hand, “Free.”

            There was a look of awe and confusion in his eyes and he looked at her. Contemplating that free was all both of them had ever wanted. To be free.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh!! This is the last one for this (there may or may not be an epilogue of sorts down the road??) But fear not I'm posting the Nessian sequel next and Elucien will be featured in that one too. 
> 
> Seriously thank you for all of the kudos and comments throughout this journey. I hope you guys like the ending and will delve into the next story <3 
> 
> XOXO

Chapter 16:

Tuesday afternoon, Elain found herself lying in bed, sighing just thinking about the next day. All of her planning was officially going to pay off (maybe) but something about the entire situation just didn’t feel right. She hadn’t heard from Lucien since their encounter with his older brother, and a part of her was sad at the notion. She really missed him, not just as a lover, but as a friend.

For so long Elain had convinced herself that Graysen was the one. The one who would make her feel right. Make her feel safe. Make her feel whole.

If she didn’t have that anymore, what did she have?

Elain rubbed her eyes and sat up, only to move to sink into her desk chair and open her laptop. She tried telling herself that she could actually study instead of worrying about boys.

Then her phone buzzed from across the room. She moved to pick it up, glad for the excuse to procrastinate.

**Lucien: Hey, you home?**

Elain smiled, ridiculously happy that he was still communicating with her. After the other night, she wasn’t so sure.

**Elain: Yeah, just started on some homework.**

**Lucien: I want to see you.**

No set plans. But she hesitated, resisting the immediate urge to type ‘yes’. She needed to consider this. Use logic instead of her wild impulse, which seemed to be her only setting when it came to him.

The screen went dark and her phone buzzed again.

**Lucien: Open your door.**

Her head whipped around, staring at her front door as if it were a living thing. Her heart started beating erratically, like a wild bird trapped and struggling inside her too tight chest. In two strides she was there, pulling the door wide. Lucien stood before her, phone in hand, those magnificent russet eyes, brighter than she could remember, were beaming at her.

They moved in unison. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him just as she scooted back, making room for him to enter. She nodded towards her room, not wanting Feyre to overhear any conversation or acts they were about to make.

Closed inside her room, they stared at each other, like to frozen statues. Everything slowed. Like someone had hit a pause button. Blood rushed, a dull roar in her ears. She thought for a moment she could even hear the muffled thump of her heart.

“I just came here to say what I should have said after that first night we were together.” He ran his fingers through his hair, while his other hand fidgeted at his side. He was _nervous._ But- he had never been nervous in front of her before, or any other female for that matter.

“I want you,” he said, “Not just for lessons or whatever the fuck we’ve been doing.” Elain held her breath, “I want you because I like you just the way you are. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met, on the inside and out, and you deserve to be told that every single day as long as you live. You shouldn’t have to wait around for some guy who doesn’t bother seeing you, or frankly, deserves you.”

Flustered, Elain opened and closed her mouth again. In many ways this was so much for her to handle. Everything was still on pause until it wasn’t.

Everything leaped into action.

They came together. Phones slipped from their hands and thudded to the floor as they collided. Their mouths fused, lips breaking only to pull their shirts over their heads in a blur of motion. Everything was frantic. Desperate. Almost violent in its fierceness.

“Gods, I missed you,” he groaned against her mouth, his hands skimming her face. His long fingers buried themselves in her hand, gripping her scalp as his mouth crashed over hers.

Elain’s hands went for the front of his jeans, yanking open the button snap and tugging the jeans down as he fell over her on the bed, between her thighs. He pulled back to shove them down his hips, cursing when they got stuck at his shoes.

She watched, devouring the sight of him and chuckling just slightly as she stripped off her yoga pants, panties, everything.

“Damn it,” he snarled, jerking off his shoes and then shucking his jeans the rest of the way off.

He looked back at her smiling at him, being so flustered in front of her. “What are you smiling at?” he chuckled, “You’re blushing harder than a school girl.”

Elain bit her lip, probably blushing harder, before they came back together. Bare skin sliding sinuously against each other. He settled between her thighs and it felt so right, like two puzzle pieces locking together.

He kissed down her breasts, Elain whimpered as she arched her spine, craving more. His mouth closed around one nipple, and she moaned, her fingers clenching his biceps. He shifted his weight and brought his erection directly against the core of her.

Elain gasped, the want, the need, filling her as her fingers moved to clutch the back of his neck. Pulling him closer as she rotated her hips, needing him inside her like a body needs oxygen.

Lucien pulled back, “Elain, are you sure?”

“God yes,” she said gasping, shifting her hips to push up against him again, “ I want this, I want you Lucien.”

His russet eyes gleamed fiercely. He lifted off of her and fumbled with his discarded jeans. She almost moaned in pain at the loss of him. Elain felt cold, empty, without him beside her.

And then the warmth was back. He was between her parted thighs, tearing the wrapped off of a condom with his teeth. I watched as he rolled it on, fascinated at the sight.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her closer, holding Elain steady as he began to sink inside her. His eyes locked with hers, it was a surreal moment, staring deep into his eyes, feeling his body molding to hers.

She was ready. Her body stretched to accommodate him. It wasn’t uncomfortable exactly, but definitely foreign. Still exciting, gaspy breaths escaped her.

Just when she thought he was done, that had been filled to capacity, he pushed deeper.

Her eyes flared wide and she whimpered. _Okay, that was a little uncomfortable_ , she thought. He stilled, his biceps tensing, “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “Yes, I’m fine.”

The arm at her waist pulled Elain closer, mashing her breasts to his chest as he thrust himself fully inside me, wrenching a sharp gasp from her. “Wow,” she choked.

“Should I?”

“Keep going,” she commanded, her nails scoring his back. He rocked his hips against hers and she cried out, arching against him.

“Oh fuck, Elain.” He mumbled against her neck. An aching pressure built inside her moved as he moved faster, increasing the delicious friction and tightening the coil low in her belly. It was like before, when he made her come just by using his hand. Only better. Everything was more intense.

She writhed against him, desperate to reach that climax. He hooked a hand under her knee and wrapped her leg around his waist. The next thrust shattered her. Looking back, Elain was sure she had never felt anything so amazing. So good. She dragged her nails through his hair, loving the absolute freedom to touch him, to love him with her hands. His name tripped from her lips.

“Elain,” he rasped, she was almost there. She burrowed her head in the warm nook of his neck, muffling her moans. His hand found her, framing her face. A thumb under her chin, fingers splayed over her cheek, he held Elain there, watching her, peering into her eyes as he moved inside her, “I want to see you.”

She nodded, the familiar burning tightness seized her, made her arch up against him, “Ohh.”

“That’s it, Elain,” He drove into her harder, and she cried out, every nerve inside her bursting to be free. She went limp. He hugged her closer, his lips seizing hers once again. She groaned against his mouth as she felt his own release follow, shuddering through him.

Together, they collapsed on the bed, his weight on top of her. As heavy as he was, she didn’t ever want him to move. _I could stay like this forever._

Forever, however, lasted about two minutes. Lucien pressed a kiss to her collarbone and then rose from the bed to dispose of the condom. Seeing him slide back into bed with her startled her, forcing her to confront the reality of what she had just done. With Lucien.

Her face burned as he looked at her. She got up, aware of the slight soreness between her legs as she moved, and pulled on one of her oversized t-shirts, before lowering herself back onto the bed.

“Are you okay?” He sat in front of her, his legs going on either side of her so that he could face her, and still hold her.

She nodded, “It didn’t hurt.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “It gets better.”

Elain felt her eyes widen, “Really, because that was pretty amazing.”

Grinning, he kissed her, “It was all you dove.”

She doubted that. She could never have as much fun alone as she had with him. She doubted she could have as much fun with anyone. That thought made her frown, followed by a flash of panic. Lucien-this. It wasn’t the plan.”

Lucien furrowed his brow, “Hey. No frowns,” he leaned back, “Do I even want to know what you’re thinking?”

She swallowed, “How can this work, Lucien?”

His smile slipped away and her heart ached for it. He didn’t understand, she had a plan because she _had_ to have one. Not because she wanted to. “Wow. You don’t waste any time. I’m getting the brush off already? No time for afterglow?” He remained sitting in front of her, his legs stretched on either side of Elain, but his arms dropped.

“I’m sorry,” she curled her knees closer, resting her chin on them, “You don’t understand.”

“Then just explain it to me.”

“Because,” she almost shouted, startling him, “You don’t know what it’s like. To live in fear of when your next meal will be, or if you dad bothered paying the water or power bill that month.” She paused, her face red for an entirely different reason now, “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “That’s not fair to say. I know you’ve been through the gates of hell too… but the way I grew up… is very different from the way you grew up.

“My mom died when I was eight. After that my dad basically was a freeloader who didn’t give a damn about us anymore. All of our measly minimum wage jobs were the thing that kept whatever food we had in our fridge, which wasn’t much. My entire life. All I’ve wanted is stability. To never have to worry about what I’m going to eat, if I’m going to get evicted, or have enough money to get necessities.

“When I met Graysen, he was that knight in shining armor I had always imagined as a little girl. His family dinners were nice, wholesome, no arguing and plenty of food on the table. It hit me just how much I missed having that, a family. And it hurt so much more knowing that I used to have that when my mom was alive. And I love my sisters, and we pulled through, but I need to make sure that I never get put in a situation like that again.”

The entire time Lucien sat, there, his throats bobbed occasionally as he stared at Elain tell her story. And when she was done, she sat there with her hands folded, waiting for him to storm out.

“Elain,” he whispered, “Will you look at me dove?”

Slowly she gazed up at him, holding her breath.

He pursed his lips, “I understand now, why you’ve had you sight set on him for so long.” She nodded, “And I’m not going to tell you who to pick, because in all honestly I just want you to be happy.

“Now I don’t have a fancy house, or a normal-civilized job. But I know, I can give you all of those things you’re worried about. I love you Elain,” her heart fluttered, “And I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you’re as comfortable, and happy as I possibly can. But if you think you’d be happier with him then I won’t get in the way.” He leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead, “I’m going to go now,” he said, “But if you decide that you can be happy with me, my family always has Thanksgiving at Illyria. At 6 o’clock on Thursday, if you don’t come then I know you’ve made your choice and I’ll respect that. I swear it.”

Then he was gone, the cold coming in from the living room as she heard the front door shut behind him. She wanted to chase after him, tell him that she loved him too, but the plan wouldn’t’ allow for that to happen.

That night at dinner, even Feyre didn’t go as far to ask her why her eyes were red and slightly puffy.

////////

Hopping into the car, Elain handed Graysen his coke and a bag of ships as she settled in against that plush leather seat of his BMW. Definitely a luxurious way to travel home, way more comfortable than her Corolla. Plus, she wasn’t forced to drive like Nesta and Feyre usually made her do.

“Bugles?” she questioned, shaking her head with a smile as he ripped into the bag, “Never took you for a Bugles kind of guy.”

He grinned, “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”

“Oh, I have. I think I was seven when I last ate them.” Elain smiled as she thought about her mom. They had been her favorite afternoon snack and her mom had a huge back of them always supplied in the house.

Shaking her head again, she unscrewed the cap on her bottle of water and took a sip, washing away the dry taste in her mouth.

“Bet you didn’t know that I liked jerky too.”

“No way. You? Wow. Bet they don’t serve that at the country club either.” She mocked.

He laughed, “Jeez, I haven’t been to a country club since, I don’t know when. Not really my scene anymore, you know?”

 _No, I don’t._ She thought. She may have known Graysen all her life, but she didn’t really know what he did with his free time. Aside from studying to get into med school and devoting the last two years of his life to a demanding girlfriend, she knew virtually nothing about the guy.

He looked both ways and pulled back out onto the two lane high way, leaving the gas station behind. They were soon gliding along the curving road past gorgeous fall foliage. Soon the trees would be shrouded in white, but right now they were a stunning blend of gold, red, and yellow.

They’d been driving two hours but it didn’t feel like it. It was fun and easy being with him. They went from regaling each other with childhood stories of his sister to discussing their classes and what we hoped to do with themselves after college. Graysen was excited when she told him that she was considering getting a doctorate degree of her very own.

Eventually, Elain found herself staring out the window of the car. The vibrant red and orange colors flickered in and out of her view. Just like a certain ginger she had left behind. She looked down at her phone and pulled up the message screen. He hadn’t tried to contact her since she had given him her virginity the previous night.

“Hey, everything okay?”

Elain jerked at Graysen’s question. She had almost forgotten she was in the car with him “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Exhaling, she forced a bright smile and returned her attention to Graysen, focusing on him and refusing to touch her phone again.

Feyre and Nesta had chosen to go and visit some of their mother’s relatives, an aunt that lived about twenty minutes from Graysen. They’d be in town for their own dinner that evening and Elain had planned on joining them later.

Walking up to the house, Elain didn’t even have the chance to push the doorbell before the door was yanked open and Lila, Graysen’s sister, locked her in a suffocating embrace followed by a happy squeal.

Pulling back, she sized her up, assessing Elain from head to toe. “Damn you look good! You highlighted your hair, I-Love-It!”

She pulled her into the impressive foyer with its vaulted ceiling. Linking arms with Elain, she led her into the kitchen, whispering into her ear even though no one was around to hear, “Whatever you’re doing with Graysen, it’s working. He hasn’t stopped talking to me about you.”

“Really?” Elain murmured, heat creeping up her neck.

“Uh-huh,” She smiled, “Graysen hurry up! Mom’s in the kithen!”

Everyone exclaimed when they saw her. Graysen and Lila’s grandparents were finishing up an intense game of monopoly, but they paused to hug and catch up with Elain. After peppering them with questions about school and her sisters, in addition to being forced to accept a slice of pie, they returned to their game.

“Wanna go upstairs and watch a movie?” Lila said, and Graysen and Elain followed.

Elain could feel her cheeks blossom as Lila made a point to sit on the far side of the big, comfy couch, making sure she had to sit beside her brother. Not exactly subtle.

After halfway through a James Bond movie, Lila got up and stretched, “I’ll be right back I think mom needs a little help with dinner.”

“I’ll help,” Elain said.

“No,” her friend insisted, “I’ll be back in just a few minutes. You should stay here and watch the movie.”

Elain glared at her as she walked out of the room. Turning, she saw Graysen smiling at her, she forced a smile back, willing away her sudden discomfort. Elain turned her attention back to the movie, but didn’t really see anything. Just flashing on the screen that she couldn’t process.

His arm stretched along the back of the couch behind her. She felt it there, the fingers grazing softly at her shoulder. Elain noted the passing of minutes on the digital clock on the Blu-ray player. Ten minutes. He shifted on the couch. The graze of his fingers was a full blown touch. Fifteen minutes, his fingers moved, stroking her shoulder in small circles.

Elain’s stomach knotted with anxiety, torn between wanting him to make a move and wanting to flee. Was he waiting for an invitation? She couldn’t help thinking that Lucien would have acted by now. She would have been under him already. Or over him. They’d have half of their clothes off and his hands would be everywhere. Her throat caught, remembering how it was with him.

Suddenly she found herself staring at Graysen, studying his profile. Even though his hand stroked her shoulder, he was watching the movie, following the character through their action scenes. He must have sensed her stare and he turned, she held his gaze.

“Elain?” His voice fell softly, hesitant and inquiring.

She closed the distance and kissed him. Pushed her lips against his own and serious as a heart attacked kissed him, willing herself to forget Lucien in the taste of him.

He was motionless for a second before reacting. Before kissing her back. He was a good kisser, she recognized that at once. He knew what to do, with his lips, his tongue. His hand game up to hold her face like she was something precious and fragile. Even so, she didn’t feel it, the zing, the consuming ache filling every inch of her.

Sensation didn’t slam through her like it did with Lucien. Did. Like it had with him. She reminded herself that. It was over.

Desperate, frustrated for something to be there between them, she wanted to feel something. God. Anything. She climbed up on her knees and straddled him, never breaking her mouth from his.

He stilled, obviously startled for half a second before his mouth resumed kissing. He was into it now, groaning when she nipped at his lip, sucking in between her teeth. His hands skimmed down her back, his palms stroking up and down rhythmically.

She tore her lips from his and kissed his jaw. His hand buried in the back of her hair, “God, Elain. What are you doing to me?”

His words sank inside her mind, forming into a very real question. _What am I doing?_

_Trying to forget about him. Forget that it’s over between me and him._

_-Over. Wait. No it’s not._

Her eyes flickered to the digital clock, it was already one o’clock in the afternoon. She jumped off of his lap. It wasn’t over yet, there was still time. She just had to get there before it was over with. “Elain?” Graysen’s voice shot her out of her thoughts, “Everything okay?”

She shook her head, words stuck in her throat.

“Elain?”

“I-I need to go home.”

“Now?”

She nodded, and climbed off of the couch. “Yes I have to see my sisters.”

He rose to his feet, one hand stretch out for her, like he wanted to touch her but was unsure, “Are we okay?”

Elain tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding his gaze. He actually sounded worried, “Yeah. We’re good.”

He nodded, “Is it that guy from Rita’s? Lucien?”

Her gaze snapped back to him, “Why do you ask that?”

“I saw how you were together.”

“We’re not together.” She snapped too quickly.

Graysen nodded again, slowly, as if trying to accept that, “Okay. Good. Then I,” he stopped and dragged a hand through his hair, “Then I want to give us a shot, Elain. I’ve been thinking about you a lot the last couple of weeks. I know it’s tricky considering you and my sister are best friends, but I think it’s worth the risk.”

This was it. Finally. He was offering what she’d always wanted: a chance to be with him. But she had just realized, that may have been what she wanted, but he was never what she needed. What she needed was the man preparing for thanksgiving four hours away.

“Graysen,” she said, “I’m sorry. I can’t anymore.”

He stood back and look at her, “Why not? You’ve had a crush on me since we were kids.”

“Yeah,” Elain nodded, “But I thought I was in love with you for all of those years, and now I think I’m about to lose someone I really am in love with. So if you’ll excuse me. I have to go.”

Elain turned to walk out of the living room, “Elain,” Graysen said and she turned back, “I’m sorry I waited so long, but I hope you’re happy. Truly. I do.”

She nodded, “I hope you find happiness too.”

And then she was gone. After getting a quick ride from Lila, who she explained everything to on the way, she was at her Aunt’s house.

“Elain!” Nesta said, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I need your car keys.” She said.

“Excuse me,”

“I’ll come back and get you tomorrow, but I need to borrow your car.”

“For what?” Feyre asked

Elain bit her lip, “I have to see Lucien. It’s my last chance to make sure I didn’t royally fuck up as much as I did.”

The sisters nodded, and before Nesta could respond Feyre yanked her keys out of her purse, “Hey! I was going to give them to her!” she hissed.

Feyre handed the keys to her sister, “Go Elain, go get him.” She winked and hugged her sister.

Nesta hugged her too, “Oh I’m so calling Mor and telling her about this, she’ll crack up at the monster she’s turned you into.”

“Tell her I said thanks,” she smiled before turning to leave her sisters.

For once, Elain regretted choosing a college that was four hours away from her hometown. It was past two o’clock when Elain left, and she was for sure going to be late. Not to mention that halfway through her Taylor Swift jam her phone died. So if she was going to be late there would have been no way for her to call him and tell him that she was on her way.

The drive gave Elain enough time to collect her thoughts; she prepared a speech, admired the autumn leaves once more, and found a new appreciation for Panic! At the Disco.

Her anticipation began to drive her wild as she approached the city, edging closer and closer to that deadline Lucien had given her. There was no telling how she looked, her hair probably in disarray, her lipstick splotched, her clothes wrinkled from the long drive. But still she continued driving, her heart racing hoping that she wasn’t too late.

//////////

Since opening Illyria, Rhys had wanted to make sure that the staff was like family. Many of the members had worked there since they opened, with only a few leaving to pursue other options. Nonetheless, many of the staff, and former staff, gathered at the bar to celebrate Thanksgiving together.

Cassian clapped an arm over Lucien’s shoulder, causing him to look away from the clock he had been nonchalantly staring at for the past fifteen minutes. “Happy Thanksgiving,”

Lucien nodded, smiling back, “Happy Thanksgiving Cassian, it’s good to have you and Az back.”

The marine smiled back at his friend, “I’m sure she’ll come mate, don’t fret on it.”

He took a sharp breath in, “I seriously doubt it, she didn’t seem too eager when I marched out the door.”

“You seem to forget that I’ve been in her place before. And it’s tough, to grow up like that and break away from this plan you’ve set for yourself.” Lucien nodded, “But I saw you and her together man, I saw the way she looks at you. She’ll be here.”

“We’ll see.” He glanced back at the clock it was already five minutes until 6.

He went around and chatted with everyone before Rhys rounded them up for his yearly ‘pep talk.’

“Alright everyone,” Rhys’s voice boomed over the bar, he turned curtly his friends who were snickering at his professionalism. Lucien elbowed Cassian who continued to chuckle at his friend, while Azriel still played with a smile on his lips. Mor only rolled her eyes as he continued, “As I was saying,” he spoke again before he was interrupted by the sound of the front door bursting open.

All eyes turned towards the door as Elain Archeon stood there, hair disheveled, chest heaving as if she had just run a mile. “I’m so so sorry,” she panted as she looked around the room. Her eyes searched until she found Lucien’s wide rich brown eyes gawking at her.

She walked over to him; if he wasn’t completely shocked he would have chuckled at her entire state. But her eyes were swimming with too much worry at the moment for him to poke fun at, perhaps later. When she reached him she nervously pulled a strand of hair behind her ear and reached for his hand, “I’m sorry, traffic was hell getting here,” she said, a small smile playing on her lips, “I hope I’m not too late.”

“No,” Lucien said squeezing her hand, “You’re just on time.”

They smiled at each other open and freely, before he leaned in and gently kissed her lips. “Everyone this is Elain, Elain, this is my family.”

Everyone in the room mumbled ‘hellos’ but it was Mor who shouted a big ‘whoop whoop’ at the end of the table.

“Right,” Rhys said, “As I was saying…” Elain and Lucien took their seat as Rhys gave his yearly pep talk. They clinked their glasses and dived into the delicious turkey dinner around them.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” he whispered in her ear. She nodded and followed him to the back office. She smiled at him as he nervously ran his fingers through his long auburn hair. “Elain,” he said, but she cut him off with a kiss.

“I’m going to be here tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and so on and so on.” She said pulling back, her mouth still grazing his. His hands reached up and began stroking her lower back, “I’m sorry,” she breathed laying her head on his chest, “I shouldn’t have made you wait so long. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize how you were always the right choice.”

Gently, he placed a kiss on the top of her head, his fingers weaving itself through her hair, “You have nothing to apologize, I would have understood no matter what you have chosen. And I would have fought like hell to win you back if you changed your mind down the road.”

She chuckled at that, lifting her head to look back up at him again, “I love you Lucien Vanserra, just as you are and I want to tell you how much I love you every single day.”

A cheeky grin spread across his face, “I can arrange that,” he said leaning in and brushing against her lips again.

Elain reached for his hand and pulled him back out of the office, and the two enjoyed their first of many family dinners together.


End file.
